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Q^i^t^a^t^h- 



i TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 

IN 1884, 



OR SKETCHES .OF TRAYEL IN THE EASTERN 
AND WESTERN HEMISPHERES. 



EMBRACING 



AN ACCOUNT OF EUROPE, EGYPT, PALESTINE, INDIA, CEYLON, 
STRAITS SETTLEMENT, CHINA, JAPAN, AND AMERICA. 



K 



BY n B. GORMAN. 



With an Introduction by Prof. H. A. Scomp, 

Emory College, Oxford, Ga, 



"1 have no wife nor children, good or bad, to provide for. A mere spec- 
tator of other men's fortunes and adventures, and how they play their parts, 
which, methinlcs, are diversely presented unto me, as from a common theater 
or scene." — Burton. 



ILL US TRA TED EDI TION. 



shin©! 



y 

°f WASr 



NASHVILLE, TENN. : 
SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

1886. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1SSU, 

By J. B. Gorman, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



,G> fc 



TO 

SIR JOHN E. G. SINCLAIR, 

Cawhness, Scotland, 

Eighth Baronet of Dunbeath, Barrock House, 

A Young Nobleman of Kare Good Qualities of Heart 

A.ND Mind, whose Delightful Companionship Lent a New 

Charm to my Voyage Around the World — 

THESE PAGES, 

AS A SLIGHT TESTIMONIAL OF THE AUTHOR'S HIGH REGARDS, 

Are Mod Rc.*vcdf:d!y Dedicated. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 

Fkom my boyhood I had dreamed of a voyage around the world. 
I had stood on the sea-shore and looked upon the waves as they dashed 
at my feet in restless fury. I loved the grandeur and magnitude of 
the ocean; I loved to watch the ships from Savannah and New York 
come and go. I made my first sea voyage when a boy, and since that 
happy period my restless desire and love of adventure, the study of 
nature and an insatiable thirst for knowledge, have carried me to 
many distant shores. Europe three times in twelve years, the West 
Indies, Canada, and States of America, but increased my rambling pro- 
pensities. My own country was youthful, but grand in the physic- 
al aspects of nature. Europe, with the accumulated knowledge of 
ages, its treasures of art and historic associations, added to my grat- 
ification and charmed me with its study. I desired to see even more 
of the world, to gain a more comprehensive idea of man in the va- 
rious forms and stages of his civilization, to increase my knowledge 
and general information. 

God in his wisdom called me to sustain the irreparable loss of my 
heloved and devoted mother. I lingered in the shadow of her la- 
mented death for nearly one year; my deep affliction, that found 
only support in prayer, was the occasion of my final decision. I 
was about to realize the fond hopes of my boyish anticipation. I 
cherished another desire, I had longed to be gratified with this love of 
travel, added to the occasion that prompted me to make a voyage 
around the world. It was, while living, to do some good. "We 
live in the deeds of life, and not in its years." We long to leave 
some monument of our faith and work behind. I Avant these sketches 
to commemorate these sentiments. I'ame, or worldly honor, is not 
my aim. A loftier desire prompts me to submit these sketches, im- 
perfect as they are, or may appear to a critical or exacting public 
opinion. 

To be always accurate in impressions, knowledge, or ideas, formed 
while traveling rapid! v — often through foreign countries with Ian- 

(5) 



6 Prefatory Note. 



guage and customs entirely different from your own — is impossible, 
I apprehend. Different persons see the same objects with different 
impressions, while the facts may be the same. 

I aim at close study and practical observation, with a view to ac- 
curacy in statements, believing that all who follow me in my voyage 
will have a faithful and pleasant account of it. I have gathered 
up many rare bits and curious things. I trust you will get some 
pleasure and profit out of these, as I have done. I cannot advise any 
one how he ought to look at these objects beyond distant seas. I pre- 
sent them in my way, and you form your own impressions. I have no 
apologies to offer. I might express a desire that this edition shall 
be succeeded by many others, as I shall give a per cent, of every 
book I sell to the mission work and schools in China. As it is tl><> 
privilege of but few to make such a voyage, I trust it may be the 
pleasure of many to read. 

The world is growing richer in knowledge and better in life every 
day. As it comes closer together by the cultivation of the arts of 
peace and the growth of a Christian civilization, it must attain to 
its highest development. J. B. GoaaiAN. 

_. Tilbotton, Ga., October 1, 1885. 



INTRODUCTION. 

"I'll put u girdle round about the earth in forty minutes." — ruck, in "Mid- 
mourner flight's Dream." 

A tour around the globe, in this age of steam and well-ordered 
arrangements for travel, is no extraordinary undertaking. It can- 
not now afford the field for gross exaggeration and blood-curdling 
stories as in the days of Magellan, or even so late as the voyages of 
Captain Cook. It would be a Munchausen who would attempt to 
impose upon the public any tales of giants or pigmies, griffins or 
genii; of the crocotta, which could imitate the human cry and lure 
men to destruction ; of the great Indian ants, which chased travelers 
with incredible swiftness; or of eight-toed races, toothed and gray- 
haired ffom birth. He finds no fountains whose red waters compel 
the drinker to reveal all the secrets of his past life; nor trees which, 
like magnets, attract animal or vegetable substances; nor does he 
meet enormous sea-serpents floating in the deep. He dares not, how- 
ever desirous, follow in the steps of the old chroniclers. He will 
never visit the realm of Prester John, nor look upon the lovely face 
of the beautiful Angelica. 

Yet, in spite of all this complete collapse of the marvelous, the 
real world affords attractions quite as great. No matter how often 
the story has been told, it is ever new. The skies of Italy are as 
blue, the isles of the Levant as bright, the Pyramids as grand, Jeru- 
salem as sacred, and the desert as desolate now as to the voyageur 
of a thousand years ago. There is no monopoly of Ceylon's ''soft, 
spicy breezes," nor of Australia's "hot December blast." Nor Briton 
nor Tartar can ever rob the Ganges of its wonderful history. The 
song and story of the Orient the "moving finger once has writ," and 
never can be lured back to "cancel half a line." In all the changes 
of this strange era of revolution and evolution, the past at least is 
secure. Its history, its monuments, its consecrated places, are beyond 
the power of even this iconoclastic age to destroy; and more and more 
will the mind, weary with modern theories and subleties, turn with 
fresh delight to the past to find "some solid ground to rest upon." 

Other departments of literature and science have had their special 



8 Introduction. 



eras — their rise, their glory, and their decline — but the records of his- 
tory and travel attract the attention of every age and of every peo- 
ple; they touch upon human life at every point. 

It is, then, with perfect confidence that the writer commends to 
an indulgent public this latest contribution to the great library of 
travel, believing that the reader will find a rich repast of- entertain- 
ment and instruction in its pages. 
/ The author, Col. John B. Gorman, is one of the most companion- 
able of men ; a real Southerner in every fiber, frank and open-hearted ; 
a newspaper man by profession, a gentleman by nature, and a bachelor 
from choice (?). His endless fund of anecdote, his hearty laugh, his 
original ideas, and his quaint way of putting even the most common 
things, render him the conspicuous figure in every company to whicli 
he may belong. Indeed, his fluency and inveteracy as a talker seem 
to justify the remark of a lady friend, who upon receiving Colonel 
Gorman's picture declared it perfect in every feature except " the 
mouth, which she had never seen closed before." 

Having thrice before made the tour of Europe, the Colonel is by 
no means a novice at traveling. He is much attached to the mis- 
sionary work in China, and proposes to devote a share of the proceeds 
of his book to the missionary schools in that country. A large por- 
tion of the people of Georgia, as well as many from other States, have 
a direct personal interest in these missionaries and their work; and 
the information furnished concerning them will add another attrac- 
tion to the book. 

But after all, Colonel Gorman returns to his Southern home more 
thoroughly American than ever before, and believing "fifty years 
of Georgia better than a cycle of Cathay" — a verdict in whicli all 
true sons of Columbia will heartily agree. 

As a warm personal friend, who has enjoyed many an hour of 
Colonel Gorman's rich experiences, the writer wishes an abundant 
success to this his first book venture; and he doubts not that the 
reader will be amply repaid for his time in the perusal of "A Tour 
Around the World in 1884." H. A. Scomp. 

Emory College, September 1, 1885. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Chapter I. From New York to Liv- 
erpool 13 

Chapter II. Liverpool— Stratford 
—Trinity Church 21 

Chapter III. Sight-seeing in and 
About London 31 

Chapter IV. London — English 
Channel— Pari* 45 

Chapter V. Sights and Scenes in 
Paris 57 

Chapter VI. Excursion Through 
Italy 65 

Chapter VII. Art Treasures of 
Rome 79 

Chapter VIII. Naples— Vesuvius 
—Pompeii 00 

Chapter IX. From Naples to Mes- 
sina, Sicily 109 

Chapter X. In Egypt — Alexandria 
and Cairo 127 

Chapter XI. Cairo— Citadel— Pyr- 
amids — Museum 132 

Chapter XII. The Great Pyramids 
at Gheezeh 145 

Chapter XIII. The Mohammedan 
Religion and Christianity 155 

Chapter XIV. From Cairo to Jop- 
pa — Ismailiaand Port Said 158 

Chapter XV. Landing at Jaffa — 
Through the City 104 

Chapter XVI. From Jaffa to Jeru- 
salem— Orange Culture — Ancient 
and Modern Times Contrasted 
—Habits, Customs, etc., of the 
People 173 

Chapter XVII. Jerusalem from 
the Tower of Hippicus 192 



PAGE 

Chapter XVIII. In and Near Je- 
rusalem 200 

Chapter XIX. Mount Moriah— 
The Mosque of Omar— The 
Wonderful P.ock— Mohammed's 
Dream 205 

Chapter XX. Around the Walls of 
Jerusalem — The Virgin's Fount- 
ain — Pools of Siloam — Down the 
Kidron, or Valley of Jehosha- 
phat— Return Below the City of 
Siloam — By Absalom's Tomb — 
Reeross the Valley Near Geth- 
semane 210 

Chapter XXI. Ascent of Mount 
Olivet— View from its Summit — 
Sights, Scenes, and Holy Places. 218 

Chapter XXII. By Bethany to the 
Dead Sea and River Jordan 225 

Chapter XXIII. Bethlehem— The 
Pools of Solomon and Mar Sa- 
ba 239 

Chapter XXIV. India— Voyage to 
Bombay 249 

Chapter XXV. Bombay— Curious 
People — Sights and Scenes — 
Towers of Silence— A Hindoo 
Hospital — American Street Rail- 
way— Off to Delhi 260 

Chapter XXVI. British India- 
Population — Railroads — Influ- 
ence on Development — Schools 
—Zenana Mission, etc 277 

Chapter XXVII. The Hindoos: 
Their History, Literature, and 
Philosophy — The Hindoo Bible, 
etc 284 

(9) 



10 



Contents. 



Chapter XXVIII. Delhi-Its Pal- 
aces and Monuments — Scenes 
in the Old Mogul Cupita!— A 
Drive Through Seven Cities in 
Ruina— Kootub Minar 288 

Chapter XXIX. From Delhi to 
Cashmere, Simla, and Return 30-1 

Chapter XXX. From Delhi to 
Benares by Agra, Cavvnpore, 
and Allahabad 307 

Chapter XXXI. Farming in India 
— Cotton, Wheat, Barley, Gram — 
Price of Labor, etc 318 

Chapter XXXII. Cawnpore and 
Lucknow 325 

Chapter XXXIII. Benares, its 
Shrines and Temples 334 

Chapter XXXIV. Down the Gan- 
ges 350 

Chapter XXXV. Arrival in Cal- 
cutta — The Great Eastern Hotel 
and My Morning's Paper— De- 
scription— Sudden Departure 300 

Chapter XXXVI. Leaving Calcut- 
ta for Colombo, Ceylon— Meeting 
Sir John Sinclair— We Become 
Companions — The Marriage and 
Celebration of His Birthday in 
Scotland 370 

Chapter XXXVII. Incidents of the 
Voyage to Ceylon — Madras 384 

Chapter XXXVIII. Colombo— Its 
Charms— Arabi Pasha— Visit to 
Kandy— Sail for China by the 
" Hydaspes," of the Peninsular 
and Oriental Line 393 

Chapter XXXIX. Observations in 
and About Colombo 396 

Chapter XL. Kandy — Tea and Co- 
coa Culture 405 

Chapter XLI. Planting on the Isl- 
and of Ceylon — Its Vicissitudes 
— Coffee, Cinchona, Cocoa, and 
Tea— Sugar and Cotton 413 



PIGS 

Chapter XLII. Christian Progress 
and the American Mission in 
Ceylon , 427 

Chapter XLIII. On the Indian 
Ocean— Straits of Malacca— Pe- 
nang, Singapore, etc 430 

Chapter XL1V. From Singapore to 
Hong Kong 451 

Chapter XLV. Some Account of 
China — Chronological, Historic- 
al, and Geogaprhicat 465 

Chapter XLVI. From Hong Kong 
to Canton — Boat Life and Bight- 
seeing in Canton 471 

Chapter XLVII. Temple of the 
Five Hundred Sages— Execution 
Grounds, Examination Hall, etc.. 483 

Chapter XLVII1. Returning rom 
Canton— Amusements of the Chi- 
nese—Up the Coast to Shanghai.. -193 

Chapter XLIX. In the City of 
Shanghai 500 

Chapter L. Rambles— Sight-see- 
ing and Fung Shuey 518 

Chapter LI. Mission Work— An- 
glo-Chinese College 530 

Chapter LII. Cultivation of Tea 
and its Preparation for Market 
— Learning the Language 541 

Chapter LIII. Pigeon English Po- 
etry—Things Worth Knowing... 552 

Chapter LIV. Last Days in Shang- 
hai—Departure for Japan 557 

Chapter LV. Description of the 
People, Houses, etc 565 

Chapter LVI. From Nagasaki to 
Yokohama 579 

Chapter LVII. Leaving Yokoha- 
ma, Japan, for San Francisco — 
Homeward Bound— The "City 
of Pekin "—Incidents on the 
Voyage, etc 598 

Chapter LVIII. From San Fran- 
cisco to Yosemite — Then Home. CO! 



J. B. Gorman (Frontispiece) 
Westminster Abbev 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

I St. Paul's Cathedral, London 3f, 

. 33 Windsor Castle and Park 40 



Contents. 



11 



PAGK 

Right Hon. \V. E. Gladstone 47 

The City of Lyons, from (he Park 

of the Tete D'or G8 

The Leaning Tower at Pisa 76 

•The Colosseum 81 

Naples, the Bay, and Vesuvius 92 

View of the Exhumed City of 

Pompeii 97 

Petrified Bodies 100 

View of Messina ant", i's Harbor.... 110 

The Island of Creta. .. 12G 

Scene on the Nile in ^gypt 100 

Mother and Child 105 

A Water-carrier 13G 

View of the City ol' Cairo 137 

An Egyptian Temple in the City 

of Cairo 140 

Ruins on the Nile _ 142 

Camel Kneeling to Shield His 

Riders 117 

Slave-boat on the Nile - 151 

Pyramid ot Cheops, near Cairo 153 

A Water-wheel 162 

Jaffa, or Joppa ICti 

Arabian Bazar 168 

Jews' Wailing Place 203 

Pool of Hezekiah 212 

Jerusalem 219 

The Mount of Olives 223 

The River Jordan 235 

Mouth of Suez Canal 254 

Bound for Mecca 256 

Natives of Aden 257 

Rather Warm 200 

Going Home 261 

Ornaments and Jewels 264 

Pagoda in Bombay 204 

At Full Speed 269 

The Monkey in His Native Jungle. 272 
Entrapping Wolves in North-west 

India 274 

A State Procession in India 270 

Hard Work 281 

House in India 285 

Delhi Women at the Mill 295 

Scene in Delhi 297 

The Kootub Minar 302 

Praying by Hand 005 

Stirring up n Hindoo 010 



PAG* 

Getting Under Way 025 

Taking a Drink 32<i 

Washing Up 329 

Studying Phrenology 301 

I Won't Go 333 

The Sacred Stream 335 

The Dying Brahman... 337 

Don't Look 339 

Scene at Monkey Temple in Ben- 
ares 341 

Contested Ground 042 

Wedding Procession 348 

Midnight Festival 319 

Mountains in India 352 

Camel -riding in India 358 

Afraid of Sun-stroke 359 

Working the Punka Standing L'p.. 001 

Mothers in Full Costume 400 

Scene in Ceylon, near Colombo 402 

Fan-palm 411 

We Do n't Mind It 432 

Malay Boy 433 

■'No Got Eye no can See" 405 

Malay House 4!2 

Malayan Lady 443 

Avenue to Whampoa's Gardens 416 

Fruits of Singapore 450 

Chop-sticks 454 

Opium-smokers 450 

Chin-chin 464 

A View Among the Hills near Ma- 

coa, China 472 

Chinese Eccentricities 475 

Duck Boat 477 

How We Ride in Canton 470 

" Oys-ters" 481 

Here We Come! 482 

'• Transmigration" 485 

We Do Our Work Thoroughly 486 

A Buddhist Temple 486 

Intimate Relations 4S9 

Flower Boat 492 

Landing at Shanghai 499 

Chinese Coach, or Wheelbarrow... 504 

On the Wusung, near Shanghai 500 

A Coolie in His Bamboo Overcoat 

—Wet Weather 512 

Sole of a Chinese Shoe 510 

Gen. Charles George Gordon 517 



12 



Contents. 



The Orchestra 

FungShuey 

Remembering Departed Friends... 

Anglo-Chinese University 

The Young Plant 

Transplanting 

Firing Tea 

Packing 

One of the Aristocracy 

Chinese Servant 

I am the Captain of this Boat. 

Thereby Hangs a Tail 

Jinrikisha— The Way We Travel 

in Japan 

Temple to the Goddess of the Sun. 

Only My Husband 

Japanese House 

A Natural Gate-way 



Peasant Girls 

Buddha 

Fire Engine 

Picture of a Pleasure Party, After 

Having Seen the Colic God 

Will Take a Smoke 

The Way I Like It 

The Cango — Mountain Travel 

The " City of Pekin " Crossing the 

Pacific Ocean 

Natives of Hawaii Leaping into the 

Sea 

South Dome— Five Thousand Feet 

El Capitan 

Nevada Fall 

One of the Big Trees 

The Tabernacle 

Yosemite Falls 



PAGE 

574 
586 

5S7 

590 
591 
594 
597 



602 
610 
612 
614 
615 
618 
610 



MAPS. 

Overland Route East 251 The Eastern Shore 580 

India 279 Yosemite Valley 609 

From India to China 386 




AROUND' THE WORLD IN 1884. 



CHAPTER I. 

From New York to Liverpool. 

ON the afternoon of February 3, 1884, I occupied a seat 
in a palace-car of that splendidly equipped road the 
"Air Line," for a pleasure tour around the world. I left 
Atlanta, whirling rapidly around lofty mountains and across 
the charming glens of North Georgia toward the State of 
North Carolina, casting, it may be, a last fond look on the 
land that gave me birth. Darkness soon enveloped the 
earth, and I fell asleep to awake next morning in that histor- 
ic land so endeared to every Southern heart by sacred mem- 
ories. Many a brave Southron, fighting for his manhood, 
the rights of his State and home, had fallen here in a mighty 
struggle. Here thousands sleep, after the hush of battle, 
under the green sod on dear old Virginia's breast. 

Leaving Danville, we had for a companion to Washing- 
ton Col. Clark, who pointed out the home of Madison, aud 
other charming spots down the Shenandoah Valley. But 
it filled me with sadness, though twenty years have gone 
since 1he struggle of the father against his son, and the 
North against the South, drenched this lovely land in 
blood and mourning. Grand old Virginia, the mother of 
States and statesmen ! the South will ever hold thee in grate- 
ful remembrance. We love the names of Washington, Lee, 
Jackson, Madison, and Jefferson — warriors, statesmen, and 
soldiers. The city of Washington greeted us in the early 
twilight. The lofty dome of her splendid Cajjit( 1 glistened 

(13) 



14 Around the World in 1884. 

in the morning sun. Though twenty-one years had gone 
since I was a student here at Columbian College, Washing- 
ton, with its broad avenues, with its labyrinth of streets, 
its palatial residences and glorious parks, appeared more 
beautiful than ever. 

We pass Baltimore, the city of monuments, Philadelphia, 
the city of brotherly love, and arrive at New York. One of 
the most marvelous railway stations in the world, with mov- 
able or adjustable tracks, belonging to the Pennsylvania 
Central, may be seen at the Quaker City. A bridal party 
from Baltimore was one of the attractive features on the 
ci'owded train, and an inexhaastible amount of gossip and 
speculation in regard to their future happiness seems to 
have been indulged in. Baltimore is famous for the beauty 
of its women, and this trusting, loving bride proved no ex- 
ception. 

I have been several days in the great metropolis prepar- 
ing for the ocean voyage. The weather in February is 
often very inhospitable in this northern clime, being cold, 
bleak, and stormy for many days at a time. The lowest 
thermometer for many years has been reported this winter in 
Northern and North-western States, ranging twenty to forty 
degrees below zero. What a contrast to the climate of our 
beloved Southland! Days might be spent in sight-seeing, 
rambles and pleasant jaunts indulged in,, for there are 
many objects and places of interest to be studied in this 
wonderful metropolis. Whether we view its rapid growth 
in population, commerce, and wealth, or contemplate its ex- 
tensive domestic and foreign trade, there ai*e but few great 
cities on the globe that rival its magnificence. New York, 
Jersey City, and Brooklyn, connected by ferry-boats and 
bridges, boast of nearly two million inhabitants. There are 
many streets in New York whose stately palaces of her 
princely merchants, bankers, and railroad magnates rival in 



From New York to Liverpool. 15 

grandeur the most fashionable quarters of London and Paris. 
The post-office building, city hall, hotels, and exchanges, 
are constructed on the grandest scale. I have visited the 
Bourse in Paris and the Exchange in Liverpool, but I have 
seen nothing that rivals the Stock Exchange of New York. 
Through the courtesy of my cousin, William Euclid Young, 
a member and banker on Broadway, I enjoyed a most in- 
teresting visit. A seat costs twenty-five to fifty thousand 
dollars, and some of the most exciting scenes are sometimes 
witnessed on its floors during a sudden rise of stocks or de- 
cline in prices. Each member's name, when called, ap- 
pears on an electrical indicator, and he rushes in from the 
lobbies or adjoining rooms, often amidst the greatest confu- 
sion. When stocks are rising you will observe the bears 
begin to climb; but if they are declining they growl, and 
make the place hideous by yelling. 

I have met many kind friends of former days and pleas- 
ant memories, but none I esteem more than the old house 
of William Bryce. It has been the firm, trustiug friend 
of the Southern merchant through the most eventful peri- 
ods of our history. This grand man has grown venerable 
in years, a prince among merchants, but the noblest and 
best of friends. His employes appear to have served him 
during a life-time in their different capacities. I observed 
my old friend Dickerson, whom I used to meet here twenty 
years ago, still faithful as ever. It was through Mr. B.'s 
kindness I was introduced to the house of Brown Brothers, 
whose letter of credit I was to travel on around the world. 
Perhaps an explanation would prove interesting, as most 
of my readers will be exercised to know what kind of 
money I used in different foreign countries. The letter of 
credit is simply a letter of introduction, addressed in French 
and English to the correspondents of Brown Brothers, New 
York, or Brown, Shiply & Co. London, in all important 



16 Around the World in I884. 

towns and cities around the globe. These correspondents, 
or bankers, are authorized to advance you, as needed, En- 
glish gold, or its equivalent, according to the rate of ex- 
change in money current in different countries to the amount 
of pounds sterling indicated on the first page of the letter. 
As you draw £5, £10, or £20, the amount is charged by 
each bank, or correspondent, on the second page of your 
letter, and bills of exchange drawn against the house in 
London for the amounts advanced, which you sign. You 
purchase this letter of credit in New York, say for five 
hundred pounds, at the rate of $4.84 on London — this is 
equal to about five dollars commercial value of American 
currency — or twenty-five hundred dollars. Should this let- 
ter be lost, by establishing the amounts drawn and deduct- 
ing same, a new circular letter will be issued for the re- 
mainder. It costs from two to three thousand dollars to 
make a first-class voyage around the world. Divide this 
amount by $4.84, or five dollars, and you have the amount 
in pounds sterling. 

Having made our financial arrangements, we make our 
wardrobe with a view to the climatic changes incident to 
the voyage. With sufficient underwear, one suit of heavy 
woolen and a light suit of serge, for cold and warm lati- 
tudes, brush, comb, tooth-brush, and soap, snugly packed 
in a valise, constitutes the outfit for the long voyage. A 
good library is found on all first-class steamers. Some trav- 
elers provide opera -glasses, goggles, green umbrellas, for 
mountain views and desert traveling. I find as little bag- 
gage as possible, with plenty of soap for Italy and Egypt, 
the most advisable. All over fifty or sixty pounds weight 
is charged extra on the English and Continental railways. 
Besides, the cabmen and commissionaires are a perfect nui- 
sance. You want to carry every thing on your back and 
the money in your pocket to avoid the worry and trouble 



From New York to Liverpool. 17 



We are now ready for sea, and are about to begin a voy- 
age that startled the world when Captain Cook first sailed 
around it in three years. Now the time has been reduced 
to ninety, and even eighty days, by constant travel and 
close connections. What a revolution steam has effected in 
the navigation of the high seas! It has brought every part 
of the world closer together into friendly intercourse and 
commercial exchange. 

I had missed the " Pavonia," of the Cunard line, on Wednes- 
day, by one hour, to which the polite agent had sent my 
ticket to await my arrival. The next steamer sailing for 
Liverpool was the "City of Montreal," Inman line, on Fri- 
day. She was a ship of large tonnage, Clyde built, with 
superior accommodations for passengers, but a little aged. 
Several friends shook their heads — better wait till Tuesday. 
The White Star line was dispatching a very fast steamer on 
Saturday, which would make it two days quicker than the 
Inman. I began to get up mortuary statistics for compari- 
son. The Cunard had never lost a ship; all the other 
companies had suffered terribly. I found the captain of 
the " Montreal," Arthur Lewis, a jolly, nice fellow, a Welsh- 
man by birth, full of pluck, and a fine sailor. These were 
just the qualities in a commander I very much admired. 
I was delighted with my large, elegant state-room the agent 
had judiciously selected amidships for me, that wore an air 
of tempting comfort and ease. One advantage was its 
proximity to the dining-saloon, where I hoped to revel in 
a good table, provided the god Neptune wa? not too im- 
portunate in his demands upon me. Friday evening and 
Saturday brought heavy clouds and fogs impenetrable over 
the ship and harbor. A dozen passengers sat in small groups 
about the saloon discussing the probabilities and possibili- 
ties of an early departure for Liverpool. We might re- 
main several days in the harbor — no one could tell. 
2 



18 Around the World in 188 J h 

Sunday morning dawned. The heavy, leaden-colored 
clouds rolled back before a gorgeous rising sun. Every- 
body was on deck delighted. At last, above the ringing, 
banging, and hissing of the steam, the order was heard, 
"Cast off." Then the visitors went scampering ashore, the 
gangways were hauled in, and the revolutions of the great 
propeller began. What a pleasure trip there was before us ! 
What strange lands, renowned in history, we should travel 
over! What visions of Oriental splendor, towering cathe- 
drals, minarets and spires, dome-roofs, ancient cities, ruins, 
monuments, and different countries, presenting a curiously 
dressed people, walking, talking, shouting, with elephants, 
camels, and donkeys, mixed up in inextricable confusion ! 
■These were some of the first impressions this vision of the 
Orient made upon us. Then how delightful it must be to 
sail over the breezy Atlantic, the sunlit Mediterranean, the 
dimpled bosom of the Indian Ocean, amid tropical seas 
studded with islands, under the starry dome of heaven! 
We could watch the whale, the shark, the porpoise, the 
nautilus, and jelly-fish, over the side of the ship ; we could 
promenade, sing, make love, eat, and sleep, "rocked in the 
cradle of the deep." 

The "Montreal" moved down the bay amidst a wilderness 
of shipping and tug-boats that went scudding by as if they 
were frightened. Outside we could see the frothy waves 
piling high, and the murmur of the distant surf could be 
heard upon the shore. Great clouds of smoke issued from 
our funnels as we bounded out to sea. Staten Island, with 
its terraced walks and stately homes, bowed farewell, while 
the peerless harbor of the glorious metropolis faded from our 
view. The ships of five other lines were moving parallel 
with us under steam and pressing clouds of canvas that 
soon swept them beyond our vision. The spectacle was 
exciting and sublime. I never can forget that morning. 



From New York to Liverpool. 19 

The emotions and impulses felt were indescribable as I 
gazed on each vessel bending on her course to distant shores. 
Who could forecast the fate of these ships? There were 
hundreds of lives and immense cargoes for different ports 
that might never reach their destination. Fogs, icebergs, 
cyclones, and collisions had ingulfed many a ship in its 
watery grave. For several days we had chopping seas that 
sent the men sprawling on the decks and the ladies to their 
berths. Promenading was dangerous. Sometimes the bow 
of the ship Avould shoot into mid-heaven, and then next mo- 
ment we were searching the wonders of the deep. 1 gen- 
erally clasp a railing and hang on, others stand by the side 
of the wheel-house with shawls drawn over their heads, a 
few arc trying to walk, and two or three are heaving over 
the railings. They have got the "O nays!" If you want 
to witness the most intense disgust, remark about the fine 
morning or charming day to one of these sea-stricken pas- 
sengers. He will place his hands at once on his bosom and 
reel away. I am never seasick enough to miss the regular 
bells. I am never crowded at the tables when others are 
sick, and it affords me inexpressible delight and a little self- 
conceit to escape when others are afflicted. This is human 
nature. When it is smooth enough we have shuffle-board, 
leap-frog, promenading, quoits, music, mock trials, charades, 
etc. Several are keeping -up their journals: how many 
miles we have run in the past twenty-four hours ; longitude 
and latitude of the ship, the number of porpoises seen, ser- 
mons preached, and a little of every thing. When the sea 
is calm we have delicious music and songs, promenading, 
love, and laughter. 

This morning we descended three stories below to see the 
irreat boilers, the coal-bunkers, and massive machinery at 
work. The " Montreal " is an iron ship of nearly four thou- 
sand tons, built in water-tight compartments. She is laden 



20 ■ Around the World in 188%. 

with thousands of cheese, barrels of flour, lard, meat, etc. 
We have the finest mutton and beef imaginable, with deli- 
cious fruits, nuts, pastry, etc., for dinners. Our ship is 
steered by steam. 

On the sixth and seventh days we experienced heavy seas, 
which piled their white caps and frothy waves mountain- 
high. It had been rough nearly the entire voyage, but ev- 
idently we had run into a storm. I felt we had a good ship, 
an excellent commander; and in an overruling Providence 
we should abide in hope and confidence. Several of our 
passengers had been absent from the table for days; one, 
especially noted for her vivacity and beauty, left lingering 
hopes she would soon reappear. But no ; the clouds thick- 
ened and rolled like a pall of death, with reverberating 
thunders that echoed from cavernous depths. It was a cy- 
clone. The captain, who sat at the head of the table to 
my right, had not been visible for eighteen hours. He was 
at the helm. The barometer was falling rapidly, and the 
situation growing alarming below. Among the passengers 
was a genuine Mark Tapley — R., from Cincinnati — who had 
crossed the Atlantic thirty-six times ; was not afraid of the 

, he said. We had listened to his stories of shipwreck 

and disaster at sea. He was just a trifle fond of narrating 
hair-breadth escapes, with a total disregard of all danger 
to himself. "Did you ever hear how the 'City of Brussels' 
went down?" remarked R. "It was a fearful disaster!" 
The storm still increasing in fury. " You remember about 
the ' City of Boston ' some years ago, do n't you ? Struck an 
iceberg — not a soul was saved." Breathless silence. " The 
' President ' never was heard from." Another sigh. " What 
a frightful accident happened to the 'Princess Alice' on the 
Thames last year — seven hundred overboard at one time!" 
shouted the hero. Our ship was surging like a great giant. 
Every timber in her mighty frame seemed to moan and 



Liverpool — Stratford — Trinity Church. 21 

labor. The waves rolled like mountains over her decks, 
and howled like a thousand demons along her sides. The 
table-plate had been thrown into inextricable confusion, and 
it was impossible for one to keep his feet. We were hold- 
ing on to a post, when a tremendous wave seemed to have 
carried away the wheel-house, or something; so we thought. 
The crash was terrific. There was a pause, a cessation, for 
a moment. It seemed like death. The great propeller had 
ceased its revolutions. "My!" cried R., "I am going — the 
ship is gone!" R. weighed about two hundred and fifty 
pounds, and wore a high silk hat. As he fled in dismay up 
the gangway, with his chapeau in hand, looking back, he 
resembled Falstaff in the " Merry Wives of Windsor." This 
storm lasted about forty-eight hours, with the most fearful 
gusts of wind, snow, and rain intervening. I had read a 
graphic account of a typhoon in Admiral Semmes's cruise 
of the famous "Alabama," and could fully appreciate the 
awful situation. 



CHAPTER II. 

Liverpool — Stratford — Trinity Church. 

WHEN we reached Queenstown, we could not enter the 
harbor, the sea was so high ; so we steamed up the Mer- 
sey River, and made Liverpool. On our way we passed near a 
ship abandoned — water-logged — but the crew were all saved, 
so we heard in Liverpool. This is the great market for our 
Southern staple, and more ships arrive at and depart from it 
than any city in the world. Her immense docks are seven 
miles in length, and so dense is the shipping at the piers 
that a conflagration with a favorable wind would utterly 
destroy it. The masts, at a distance, resemble an old pine- 
field in Georgia that has been deadened. Liverpool has a 
population of a half million or more, and, with Glasgow, 



22 Around the World in 1884. 

ranks second in population in the Empire. It is a very 
hilly city, but splendidly built in brick and stone. The 
Exchange and St. George's Hall are two of its most famous 
structures. Street railways connect every part of the city 
with the Great Western Railroad. Birkenhead is close by, 
and has splendid docks for building iron ships. Trains 
reach London, two hundred miles distant, in four hours 
and thirty minutes, and by Chester a little longer. 

"What an agreeable change Ave experience in the climate! 
The snow-drops and daffodils are in bloom, while my car 
window looks out on green fields of clover and grain. It 
will be at least a month in New York before the foliage of 
the garden and the verdure of the meadow and field are so 
far advanced. The latitude of England is on the line of 
Labrador. What are the causes, then, that play such impor- 
tant parts in producing this change? It is evidently the 
Gulf-stream. Were it not for its proximity to the coasts 
of Great Britain, these fertile and beautiful islands would 
become uninhabitable. The moisture of this warming ocean 
current is taken up by the benignant west winds, that dis- 
pense it on the shores of all Western Europe. To no dis- 
coverer or navigator does science owe such a tribute of grat- 
itude as the world has accorded to the illustrious Southern- 
er, Commodore M. F. Maury. A Virginian by birth, the 
South lovingly claims this great philosopher; but to the 
world and to science belong his labors. The mariner pur- 
suing his voyage over trackless seas looks upon his charts 
for the blazed highways ; no less valuable are his charts of 
the winds and currents of the ocean. But of the Gulf- 
stream and its influence on climate — its source and won- 
drous career — we desire to speak. From its great cal- 
dron, the Mexican Gulf and Caribbean Sea, shoots this re- 
sistless stream like an inverted cataract by Cape of Florida, 
along the Atlantic coast north, till it reaches Newfound- 



Liverpool — Stratford — Trinity Church. 23 

land, Avherc it begins to spread its mantle of warmth for 
thousands of square leagues over cold waters; but onward, 
distinct and separate, presses this mysterious wanderer, with 
a temperature of eighty-six degrees, radiating heat on the 
surface which the moist west winds bear to the gratefuT 
embrace of Erin's and Albion's shores, waking their birds 
to joyous sang and clothing their fields in everlasting green. 
Let us look now, in the same latitude, on the opposite coast 
of Labrador. All nature is inanimate, and her mountains 
are covered with snow. Increasing its latitude ten degrees, 
the Gulf-stream loses but two degrees of temperature, and even 
in mid- winter, having run over three thousand miles north, 
still preserves the heat of summer. Breaking on the shores 
of Britain, and moving slowly, it divides' into two parts, one 
going north toward Spitzbergen, or Polar Sea, while the 
other half enters the Bay of Biscay, on the south of Eu- 
rope. Continuing now along the coasts of Spain and Africa 
to the Cape de Verde Islands, it joins and turns back with 
the great equatorial current flowing westward across the 
Atlantic toward Cape St. Koque, coast of Brazil. From 
here it flows north to the Gulf from which it sprung. How 
beautiful is God in nature! The physical geography of the 
seas attests his beneficence and love no less than the land 
he has clothed with verdure for the happiness of man. 

The English railway cars are built in compartments — 
first, second, and third classes marked on the side doors. 
Take an American coach, which you enter from a platform 
at each end, subdivide it into six or eight compartments by 
partitions, turn the scats facing each other, with places for 
four persons on either side, and you have the English and 
Continental railway coach. There are no conductors, but 
guards. It is their duty to examine your ticket, lock and 
unlock the doors at the numerous stations when the train 
starts and stops. You must invariably purchase your ticket 



24 Around the World in IS84. 

at the first, second, or third class booking-offices ; then you 
enter your class of waiting-room until the signal is sounded. 
Your ticket is then examined, and you are shown your place 
on the train. Then the guards come along and lock up all 
the doors, put the keys in their pockets, and walk off. There 
is a drop-step on the outside running the entire length of 
the train, along which a guard can walk while the train is 
in motion. He is never allowed to sit with the passengers. 
The guards have compartments of their own. The compart- 
ments are destitute of all the comforts we have on our Amer- 
ican railroads. These are provided at the stations. When I 
first visited England twelve years ago there were no steam- 
whistles or sleeping-coaches on the roads ; now they have 
both. There are elegant Pullman cars now on the Ameri- 
can model. The North-western is magnificently equipped ; 
its ballasted road-bed, iron bridges on stone piers, and heavy 
steel rails, over which the train glides almost without a jar, 
are marvels of solid masonry and engineering. On either 
side of the road are trimmed hedges of roses and thorns, 
whose beauty is heightened by the sloping banks of the 
road, which are sown in grasses and clover, and are beauti- 
fully mowed. 

"What a charming country between Liverpool and Lon- 
don ! you would say. It is the twentieth day of February, 
yet it is as balmy as in spring. The fields are green with 
grass, wheat, and clover. The front yard of that enchanted 
cottage, with its daffodils and clambering vines, is a joyous 
scene of mirth between romping mothers and prattling chil- 
dren.- The plowman is busy in the field, the shepherd is 
watching his flock, while the " lowing herd is winding slow- 
ly over the lea." "What a landscape for the painter! The 
charms of English scenery are nowhere surpassed. Wheth- 
er it is the venerable oak in its solitude, or the stately elm 
that graces the long, broad avenues to its cathedral towns, 



Liverpool — Stratford — Trinity Church. 25 

the quiet meadow, the hill or valley seen, the memory of 
their beauty will linger like a dream. 

The west of England is famous for its wooded parks and 
baronial castles of its ancient aristocracy. Some of the 
most interesting spots in its history are to be visited in War- 
wickshire. I had long desired to see Kenilworth Castle, 
with its cloud-capped towers and ivy-covered walls, immor- 
talized by the genius of Walter Scott. I wanted to see the 
Castle of Warwickshire, that looked back into the mystic 
ages of England's ancient splendor ; the birthplace of Will- 
am Shakespeare, at Stratford-upon-Avon, that had kindled 
my boyish imagination with poetic fervor. 

Departing at Leamington station, we embrace all these 
historic places in a charming drive of two days behind a 
spanking team of horses. The coachman was as gossipy as 
one of Falstaff 's wives ; the Aveather, crisp and fine, put me 
in the best of humor. First from Leamington to Kenil- 
worth — five miles — over a road Queen Elizabeth traveled 
three hundred years ago. This castle, presented by Her Maj- 
esty to Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was formerly the property 
of Henry the Fourth. Its ruins present to-day one of the 
grandest sights in all England. I walked through its de- 
serted halls, once radiant with splendor, that echoed the 
tread of royalty. I looked out from its ivy-clad windows 
on its crumbling walls. Sad, gloomy, desolate! Where is 
thy glory, once proud Kenilworth? Where are Queen 
Elizabeth and Dudley gone? I saw some inscriptions on 
the antique fire-place in one of the apartments. There were 
the crumbling archways, the great gate-house, and remains 
of a lake near by, that spoke in silent eloquence of departed 
grandeur. 

Several miles west of Leamington is Warwick Castle, of 
great antiquity, and noted for its historical associations. 
From its stupendous towers — looped for archers' bows and 



26 Around' the World in 1884- 

arrows in the tenth or eleventh century — I looked upon a 
landscape that would have baffled the genius of a painter 
to portray. It is believed that the foundation of this castle 
dates back to the Romans — before the birth of Christ — and 
tradition has handed down a story that it was connected, 
like Guy's Cliff once, by subterranean passages with Ken- 
ilworth. Many curious relics may be seen in the armory; 
frescoes and paintings in the castle. The famous Warwick 
vase found in Emperor Adrian's villa at Tivoli, that holds 
one hundred and thirty-eight gallons, is shown in this col- 
lection. We pass Guy's Cliff. Its lofty tower rises in ma- 
jestic grandeur at the end of a long avenue of ancestral 
trees. The old one at the foot of the hill dates back to th<f 
time of William the Conqueror. 

Eight miles distant is the town of Stratford, upon the 
banks of the classic Avon, whose name has been rendered 
illustrious by the birth of the immortal bard. About mid- 
way lies Charlecot Park, where, our coachman says, " Shakes- 
peare stole the deer." William came out from Stratford, in 
company w r ith other young roisters, to this famous family- 
seat of the Lucys, much like a Georgia boy would hunt 
the festive opossum around a sugar-cane patch. He little 
dreamed, perhaps, when he committed an injury on that 
doting pet, he would be captured and lodged in the keep- 
er's "inn" all night. When brought in the presence of the 
irate Sir Thomas, his indignation must have been severely 
provoked. William's feelings were also much wounded by 
harsh treatment, if we are to judge from the following lines : 

"A Parliament member, a justice of the peace — 
At home a poor scarecrow; at London, an ass." 

For this humiliating stanza on the proud knight, Sir Thomas 
employed a lawyer to prosecute the young poet-thief, which 
forced a hasty escape to London. William became a hanger- 



Liverpool — Stratford — Trinity Church. 27 

on at the theater, then an actor, and finally began to write. 
The burning indignation of his Charlecot's rage embalmed 
Sir Lucy in a withering satire, with Justice Shallow for its 
hero, alias Sir Thomas Lucy. As we walked through this 
lovely old park, a fine herd of deer started to their feet, 
turning their pretty heads at us as if they suspected the 
approach of one of the poet's descendants. There were 
many fine old oaks that studded these historic grounds, with 
:i pretty silver stream threading its way through a meadow 
of beautiful green. 

Kesuming our coach, which by this time had rounded the 
wooded park, we drove down a turnpike that looked like it 
had been sand-papered every day. It was a marvel of sym- 
metry and beauty with its well trimmed hedges and its cozy 
cottages, that peeped out of a wealth of shrubbery and 
grand old trees. In the distance rose the spire of the par- 
ish church, which marked the last resting-place of the im- 
mortal poet. I was pleased with the prospect before me ; and 
as the little river Avon stretched away on an enraptured 
view, I could mark its course through the meadows by the 
fringe of the willow-trees, whose long tendrils drooped upon 
its placid bosom. We cross a little stone bridge and enter 
Stratford. Need I say we stopped at the famous "Red 
Horse" hotel, that associates the name of Washington Ir- 
ving with his poker chair and scepter, to which he so tender- 
ly alludes in his "Sketch Book?" The long street that 
passes by is thronged with pedestrians, who seem to be hur- 
rying to a railway station ; but their destination is Shakes- 
peare's house. This is poetic ground we stand on ; for ev- 
ery association connects it with some thought of the im- 
mortal bard. There is nothing prepossessing in this ancient 
edifice of hewn timbers and plaster, though it excites the 
feelings of the deepest veneration in the pilgrim. It is three 
hundred years old. In the room fronting Henley street, 



28 Around the World in 1884- 

up-stairs, in which the poet was born, names hardly less re- 
nowned in history than his own are left upon the walls by 
the royal visitors and personages. We saw Goethe's name 
once in the tower of the Strasburg Cathedral four hundred 
and sixty feet above the ground, cut in the solid stone; but 
here are the names of kings and royal ladies — of George 
the Fourth, William the Fourth, the Countess of Blessing- 
ton, Lord Byron, Wellington, Scott, Moore, Mrs. Hemans, 
Irving, N. P. Willis, and Dickens, and a host of less dis- 
tinguished celebrities. The king and his subjects have vied 
in paying their tribute to the loftiest genius. I did not 
leave my name — it was too perishable. I did not desire to 
leave any thing. I wanted to take away something — some 
souvenir with which I could associate the name of the poet. 
Just as I had laid my hand on a brick in the chimney — in 
the old fire-place by which his mother once sat with the 
prattling babe — some old fossiliferous relic of the deceased 
shouted out, "Don't do that!" I endeavored then to di- 
vert these "antiquated remains" to some distant object. I 
wanted to secure the old match-lock gun Shakespeare had 
shot the deer with. What a souvenir that would be! Then 
there was the old arm-chair he sat in, and even the deeds 
to the place his father, John Shakespeare, had left, all tempt- 
ingly near. The old lady kept a suspicious eye around the 
room. As we passed out the door, the jug that Garrick 
sipped the wine out of and the sword with which Shakes- 
peare had played Hamlet almost overcame me. It was too 
sad ! I could sooner have poached the deer out of Charle- 
cot Park. I had lost prestige with this ancient relative of 
the bard. Then I sat down overwhelmed with grief. Just 
to think, there was not even a place in the album or on the 
venerable walls to write my name! 

Shame on the town of Stratford ! Until recently, I learn, 
this house with storied associations, about which lingers 



Liverpool — Stratford — Trinity Church. 20 

the witchery of poetic imagination, has actually been used 
as a butcher-shop. Think of the vulgar butcher serving 
up bits of rare beef and fat joints of mutton to the village 
burghers under the consecrated old roof! A market-house 
for thirty years, but now redeemed to history by the town 
of Stratford. Parenthetically: I hear that Barnum has 
offered ten thousand pounds — fifty thousand dollars — for 
the mansion v and wants to move it to New York. What a 
show it would be with Jumbo! 

The birthplace and sepulcher are not far apart. I turned 
my face down the banks of the sweet Avon, upon which 
rose Trinity Church — a venerable and consecrated pile. 
Walking up an avenue of lime-trees whose interlacing 
branches overhead hung in mournful silence, I observed on 
either side the sepulchral grounds many ancient tombs al- 
most covered with grass. As we entered by a Gothic porch, 
heavy oaken doors swung back on ponderous hinge's. The 
interior presented a scene of grandeur — in the chancel, aisles, 
nave, and transept, truly magnificent. We turned up oaken 
seats under which were most curious carvings three hun- 
dred years old. We looked on the monuments and tombs 
of the Clopton family, the gentry and nobility, the beauti- 
ful windows and banners on the walls, the rich carvings 
and highly embellished ornamentations, until we were lost in 
a maze of bewilderment. Shakespeare's monument adorns 
the door-way on the left of the chancel. He is represented 
as writing on a cushion, and beneath the bust is a singular - 
inscription, beginning with these lines: 

"Stay, passenger; why goest thou hy so fast? 
Read, if thou canst, whom envious death hath plast, etc. 

"Ohit Anno Dei 1616; Etatis, 53; Died 23d Ap." 

Beneath is the poet's grave, upon which I read this inscrip- 
tion: 



30 Around the World in 188 4. 

"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare 
To digg the dust encloased Heare; 
Bleste be the man that spares these stones 
And curst be he that moves my bones." 

It is probably this traditional anathema that has prevented 
the removal of his ashes to Westminster Abbey. Near by 
lie his wife and other relatives. The baptismal font in 
which the poet was baptized stands very near. 

The following epigram, it is thought, has been wrongly 
ascribed to the poet's pen, reflecting on the usury of John 
Combe, a great friend of Shakespeare's : 

" Ten in the hundred lie here engraved. 
'T is a hundred to ten his soul is not saved. 
If any man ask, Who lies in this tomb? 
Oh, oh! quoth the devil, 't is my John a Combe!" 

A mile away from the town is the cottage of Anne Hath- 
away, a fine specimen of an old English farm-house, in 
which the poet's wife was born. Here they were married 
in 1582, when he was only eighteen years of age. The 
town hall contains many treasures of art that associate the 
name of Shakespeare. 

While in the country, I desire to allude to English life, 
its charms and influence on home. I am sure no people 
can boast of a greater love for rural enjoyments or more re- 
fined pleasures and comforts of home. Whether on the 
moor or marsh with gun or dog, or bounding over fence or 
ditch following the hounds in the chase, the gentleman bears 
himself aloft in stately pride of his house, its honors and 
courtly grandeur. The greatest charm of an English home, 
says Irving, " is the moral influence that seems to pervade 
it." Good order, with a sense of propriety, united with 
courteous bearing, are characteristic traits of the English 
people. Then the perfect respect, polite manners, and. rev- 
erence observed by the family in social intercourse, are some- 



Sight-seeing in and About London. 31 

thing remarkable. The country furnishes the home, the 
city the conventional life, of the English people. I very 
much admire their love of comfort, culture, good breeding, 
study of books, and fondness for travel — the rare good sense 
they talk and show in every-day life at home. About their 
cottages they gather beautiful flowers in tiny pots or plats. 
The creeping vine is trained by careful hands to produce 
the best effect. The wife and daughter are fond of father 
and brother. The active, manly form of the son is not 
more admired than the ruddy glow of health mantled in 
the cheek of his devoted sister, whose symmetrical form 
and nimble step are admired by all. What Georgian is 
not boastful of his Scotch ancestors, his English or Irish 
blood? Even in our domestic animals we refer with pride 
and pleasure to their pedigrees. Two hours by Rugby and 
we are in London. All time is measured by hours, and not 
by distance, in European travel. 



CHAPTER III. 

SlGnT-SEEING IN AND ABOUT LONDON. 

WHEN I was a school-boy, my geography said, Yedo, 
Pekin, Nankin, and Canton, were the largest cit- 
ies in the world. Now I am sure that London is nearly 
equal in population to all four of these combined. It is 
not only the largest but the wealthiest city in the world. 
It was once a Roman colony under Nero, and therefore 
boasts of great antiquity. It resembles, on first impression, 
a large, overgrown country village, with its wooded parks 
and lawns scattered through it for miles. It is a good 
day's horseback ride through this famous old metropolis. 
It is at least twenty-five to thirty miles wide. I have 
walked six or eight miles through the heart of it — from 
Kensington Gardens, by the British Museum, to St. Paul's 



32 Around the World in 188 J^. 

Cathedral. Several times I thought I was in the country. 
What most interests me are these old places. It is said the 
Tower of London was- laid by Julius Csesar, fifty years be- 
fore our Saviour was born. I am nearly stupefied when I be- 
gin to study the history of London, and explore the laby- 
rinths that lead me back into its shadowy past. Contem- 
plate for a moment its stupendous power and influence on 
the world's civilization. It is the capital of the mightiest 
kingdom on earth — upon whose flag the sun never sets. 
Every ten minutes there is a birth, and in every fifteen min- 
utes a death. There are over four hundred thousand houses, 
in which nearly four millions of people reside. Think of 
seven thousand miles of streets, that would stretch nearly 
one-third the distance around the world, crowded with its 
teeming millions, presenting every condition and phase of 
human life — the rich and poor, the high and low, the queen 
and her subjects — that make up this grand panorama of life. 
Let us stand on London Bridge and watch the surging 
masses of vehicles and pedestrians cross the river Thames. 
The city is situated on both sides of this historic stream, 
and as you cast your eye up and down, splendid struct: 
ures span^the river at intervals as far as you can see. It is 
one dense mass of living beings surging from side to side. 
On the water beneath small steam-boats and numerous other 
crafts are puffing and blowing, bearing away their living 
freights and merchandise. Look at her castles, her parks 
and gardens, her princely monuments and grand cathedrals! 
I have spent weeks exploring its labyrinth of streets, trav- 
ersing for miles its museums and galleries, studying their 
vast collections of art, admiring its park scenery, or ram- 
bling through the ancestral halls of its ancient palaces. I 
only wish these weeks or months had been years. I can 
only mention a few of its great attractions. I have seen 
none that interested me more than Westminster Abbey. 



Sight-seeing in and About London. 




WFST MINSTER ABBEY. 



34 Around the World in I884. 

No country pays a loftier tribute to genius, or honors more 
its illustrious dead, than England. The transept and gor- 
geous chapels of this venerable pile bear numerous testi- 
monials to departed greatness. Even the tessellated floors 
on which we tread down its gloomy aisle3 mark the rest- 
ing-places of its immortal dead. Here the deeds and virt- 
ues of the hero, poet, traveler, scholar, navigator, discov- 
erer, artist, historian, and benefactor, have all been com- 
memorated. I read the name of Charles Dickens under 
my feet; he sleeps among the great and honored in the 
Poet's Corner. Around me, in the niches, I saw the busts 
of Dryden, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Pope, Thomson, Milton, 
Addison, and Johnson — names that will live when this ca- 
thedral has crumbled into dust. I don't see Byron here. 
The solemn peals of the noble organ, reverberating through 
the dark recesses and corridors, is very impressive. The 
eye wanders beyond a wilderness of graceful columns, deli- 
cate tracery, and embellished windows, on tombs, galleries, 
and chambers, solemn and dreary in their antiquity. Here 
William the Conqueror was crowned in 1066. Here the 
royal chapel of Henry VII., the most costly structure of 
any age, and that of Edward the Confessor, may be seen. 
Here the ashes of Mary and Elizabeth were interred. 
Near by are the Houses of Parliament, that rise in stately 
grandeur on the bank of the Thames, covering eight acres 
of ground. They form the most splendid piece of Gothic 
architecture in the world. 

We pass to the Strand by Charing Cross, "a great rail- 
way station," three miles distant to St. Paul's Cathedral, 
the grandest structure in all the kingdom. It was built, 
like fifty-two other noble churches, by that incomparable 
architect, Christopher Wren, after the great fire in 1666. 
It required thirty-five years in building, and cost over seven 
million five hundred thousand dollars. It is built in the 



Sightseeing in and About London. 35 

shape of a cross, its great dome rising three hundred and 
sixty-five feet above the marble pavement of the cathedral. 
Some authorities claim it is over four hundred feet high. 
Mr. E. K. Rea, of Carrollton, Mo., and I ascended to the 
lofty dome, from which we gazed in wonder on the vast 
city below us, enveloped in smoke. Smoke, fog, and rain 
furnish the contrast for London. How I wish I could 
gaze on a cloudless sky and bask in the golden light of 
a setting sun ! Such a scene must be truly gorgeous in this 
metropolis. I can trace the dim lines of long-departing 
streets, that stretch away below a wilderness of house-tops. 
They are packed with moving vehicles and human beings. 
The Mansion House (Lord Mayor's residence), the Ex- 
change, the Bank of England, the Tower of London, Guild- 
hall, the British Museum, the domes and cathedral spires 
of many historic buildings, may be seen from this lofty 
eminence. The great organ and whispering-gallery, with 
its mysterious echoes under the great dome, have fascinated 
the admiring millions of curious visitors for ages past. St. 
Paul's, too, presents monuments and mausoleums to its ven- 
erated dead. The tombs of Wren, Nelson, and Welling- 
ton are in a magnificent crypt below ; while we look upon 
the statues of John Howard, Dr. Johnson, Bishop Heber, 
Howe, Abercrombie, Sir John Moore, and other eminent 
men in various parts of the cathedral. I observed Lord 
CormYallis among the number that marks a period in 
American history. I saw Packenham, too, of New Or- 
leans fame. The great clock and bell are among the at- 
tractions to visitors. The bell is never tolled, only when 
a member of the royal family dies. But when I was far 
away I have heard the deep tones of this mighty bell 
strike the hours, which on a quiet evening swept solemnly 
across the metropolis to my ears. It hangs in the south- 
ern turret above the western portico; it weighs four and one- 



36 Around the World in 188 Jf. 

half tons, and is ten feet in diameter. I thought I would 
wind up the great clock once,. in another part of the build- 
ing, which the keeper kindly consented for hie to do ; but 
on being informed that it required two men six hours every- 
day, I begged he would excuse me. The end of the pend- 
ulum weighs one hundred pounds. London has scores of 
churches — nearly one thousand or more. But St. Paul's is 
the royal cathedral, where the lords, the ministry, and the 
nobility attend. It has many thousand chairs arranged on 
the vast expanse of its marble floors. In the inner dome 
are six paintings relating to events in the life of Paul. The 
entire building, of stone, marble, and iron, is a marvelous 
piece of architecture, beautifully situated on Ludgate Hill, 
in the heart of London. I do not think the cathedral is 
ever filled during devotional exercises. I am not sure 
these cathedrals are as largely attended as in former years. 
The people crowd the smaller churches; but St. Paul's is 
always full of curious spectators. 

The courts, inns, bridges, railway stations, theaters, ho- 
tels, taverns, gardens, and parks are too numerous to men- 
tion. 

There is a most curious place for the sale of old clothes, 
etc., called "Petticoat Lane," that is well worthy a visit. 
It shows up queer life and character ; but you must leave your 
conscience and purse behind. Cheapside and Cornhill are 
famous. old streets in London, but few can recall such a 
roll of illustrious names as Fleet. It is the printing-house 
and literary street. The early printer once lived here. 
Wynkyn de Worde "fynished and emprynted two of hia 
books heare." 

The Devil Tavern, near Temple Bar, is associated with 
the days of Ben Jonson, Goldsmith, Boswell, and Dr. 
Johnson. Dryden, Richardson, and Pope met here. Abra- 
ham Cowley, the peerless poet, lived on Fleet Street. 



Sight-seeing in and About London. 37 

Paternoster Row is a famous old street; so is Baker, 
which associates the name of Madam Tusseaud with her mar- 
velous wax-work exhibition. Not a more delightful event- 
ing can be spent in London than you will enjoy among 
the groups and figures of this wonderful collection. The 
Zoological Gardens — the largest in the world — contain a 
vast collection of birds and animals from every clime on 
earth. Large houses are heated in winter to produce the 
proper temperature for those from near the equator. 

Every year the resident population of the metropolis de- 
creases. It has given away to vast blocks of business 
houses, theaters, railway stations, viaducts, banking houses, 
and insurance offices, until its dense population has over A 
flowed in the country for miles around, absorbing entire 
cities, towns, and villages in its resistless sweep. The Crys- 
tal Palace must be seven miles from London Bridge sta- 
tion ; that marvelous house of glass and iron were you to 
miss seeing, you had better miss London. My first visit 
here in 1872 — again in 1878 — filled my memory with pict- 
ures of beauty and loveliness I can never forget. It was 
" Forester's Day." Our party — which consisted of Mrs. S. 
A. Carter and J. D. Hough, of Talbot county; Mrs. Elea- 
nor Wilkerson and Miss Annie Dempsey, of Macon, Ga. ; 
Monsieur and Madame Piatt, of Men tone, France; and the 
author — in 1878, spent a day amidst the festivities and gay- 
eties of this eventful occasion. Probably fifty thousand peo- 
ple were on the grounds and in the building. I saw five 
thousand children, in procession nearly one mile long, file 
in and take their seats in one corner of this stupendous 
structure. Here were the English people gathered for a 
holiday for pleasure. Everybody, with his wife and sweet- 
heart, was on the green; romping children, with rosy 
cheeks; father and mother in great glee, chasing each other 
over the velvet sheen. There were music, dancing, balloon 



38 Around the World in 1884. 

ascensions, and every conceivable amusement, to divert 
the vast multitude. The wildest abandonment and enjoy- 
ment were iudulged in. The " kissing ring." O the magic 
spell that gathers one about the kissing ring — that thrills 
our very soul and being! I laughed and sighed and nearly 
died in seeing. I watched the balloons float away until 
they became a mere speck on the horizon. Thousands of 
people gathered in rapture around the playing fountains. 
What matchless art! what perfection and beauty! Around 
large basins, I watched the crystal streams as they shot 
from dragons' mouths across each other. Then the god 
Neptune and the goddess Diana, with hundreds of lovely 
fountains like inverted cataracts, ascended to dizzy heights; 
then, drooping like graceful willow-trees, each pearly drop 
descending glistened like a diamond in the setting sun. 
Some of these fountains shot up two hundred and fifty feet 
high. There are two cascades four hundred and fifty feet 
long, with a fall of twelve feet. When all the water-works 
are playing there are no less than twelve thousand jets in 
all, consuming six million gallons of water, pumped up by 
powerful steam-engines into enormous water-towers, three 
hundred feet high, from which the pressure is obtained. 
It costs about one thousand dollars an hour to play them. 
The interior of the palace was a marvel of grandeur and 
architectural magnificence. It was moved here from Hyde 
Park after the exhibition in 1851. The present structure 
cost seven million five hundred thousand dollars. It is five 
hundred yards long, three hundred and eighty feet wide, 
and center transept two hundred feet high. It is certainly 
one of the wonders of the world. The finest representa- 
tions illustrative of Grecian, Roman, Assyrian, Pompeian, 
Egyptian, Saracenic, Byzantine, mediaeval, renaissance 
architecture, painting, and sculpture adorn its splendid 
halls and galleries. Some ethnological groups, as well as 



Sightseeing in and About London. 39 

statuary, interested me very much. Fountains are send- 
ing up their slender jets amid blooming flowers and gar- 
dens throughout the building. There is an immense deal of 
manufacturing, illustrating every branch of industry, with 
several hundred small shops, where any article you may de- 
tire can be purchased. Days might be spent here in study 
and endless rounds of amusement. 

Hampton Court Palace, once occupied by King William 
and Queen Mary, presented to Henry VIII. by Cardinal 
Wolsey, with its maze and grape-vine, is another charmed 
spot thirteen miles up the Thames. There is nothing more 
picturesque than Kew Gardens, with its pretty walks, rare 
exotics, and wonderful palm-house, sixty feet high. Here 
I saw coffee, sugar-cane, cotton, tea, and oranges growing. 
The most wonderful little plant was a pitcher-plant, that 
produced a perfect representation of a pitcher with the 
handle to it. If we proceed up the river twenty-two miles 
west of London we behold, rising in grandeur on its south- 
ern bank, the finest royal residence in England. It is 
Windsor Castle, a venerable pile, noted for the beauty of 
its situation. From the round tower, two hundred and 
twenty feet above the Thames, we can see twelve counties 
on a pretty day. Right opposite rises Eton College, a truly 
grand edifice. In another direction there is the "City 
Road" — associated with the memory of John Wesley — Smith- 
field, the old Cattle-market, Hemstcad, and Bunyan's tomb, 
that are interesting on account of their historical associa- 
tions. England is the birthplace and sepulcher of the his- 
torian, poet, and scholar, whose names are immortalized in 
verse and prose. Their works are read and sung around 
the globe, and enshrined in the memory and loving hearts 
of a grateful world. 

Let us now return from the country to the city — we have 
rambled too far in its suburbs — and take a look before our 



40 



Around the World in I8S4. 




Hfi 



Sight-seeing in and About London. 41 

departure for Paris. We went to Billingsgate, the great- 
est fish-market in the world. It is situated close by the 
Custom-house on the banks of the Thames. Such filth and 
dirt, such slang, such fish and billingsgate, I never saw or 
heard before. Our breakfast consisted of fish, bread, and 
coffee. The annual sale of fish is estimated at £2,000,000, 
or ten million dollars. But this is not all. There are forty 
other markets in London for cattle, meat, corn, hay, vege- 
tables, etc. The meat-markets are subdivided, or classified. 
Some are for live stock, others for dead and dressed car- 
casses; some for wholesale, others for retail. The Quarterly 
Review gets up a summary of the annual consumption of 
food in the city that is astounding, if not whimsical, in its 
way. Its estimates require seventy-two miles of oxen, ten 
abreast ; one hundred and twenty miles of sheep, ten abreast ; 
seven miles of calves, nine miles of pigs, fifty acres of poul- 
try, packed ; twenty miles of hares and rabbits, one hundred 
abreast ; a pyramid of loaves about the size of the pyramid of 
Cheops in Egypt ; one thousand columns of hogsheads of beer, 
each one mile high. The new Cattle-market, near Holborn 
viaduct, is the most extensive. A carriage-road runs through 
this vast building, with avenues radiating from it. There 
is an under-ground communication with a system of rail- 
ways that bring all the meats and poultry from Copenhagen 
cattle-market in the country, underneath the market. The 
coal comes from Newcastle, and the water from up the 
Thames. It is filtered before it is used. The tunnel un- 
der the Thames, completed in 1843, has lately been pur- 
chased by the East London Railway Company. Forty 
trains pass under the river every day. The tunnel was 
built on two archways thirteen hundred feet long, and the 
descent was made by a deep staircase. We could not enu- 
merate the theaters, music-halls, concert-rooms, and places 
of amusement in London. At the Haymarket I saw nearly 



42 Around the World in 188Jf. 

a regiment of men fight a sham battle, in which it appeared 
half the men were killed. Our Mary Anderson, the Ken- 
tucky beauty, has completely fascinated London at the 
Lyceum on the Strand. My friend Rea had to pay three 
dollars for a seat in the gallery. The Prince of Wales and 
the royal family have honored her with their presence. 
Mr. Gladstone has dined her — so reported. The more I 
see of London the more I am impressed with the fearful 
immorality and depravity that exist, even among the 
higher classes of society. A gentleman informed me at the 
Arundel that respectable women often come home drunk to 
their husbands. I believe there is enough beer and ale 
drank here to float the British navy, yet London is richer 
in charities, hospitals, and churches than any city in the 
world. Depravity is more apparent, perhaps, than it is in 
smaller cities, on account of its dense population. 

From my window I enjoy a fine view of Blackfriars 
Bridge. An immense flock of sheep is pressed through the 
crowded street toward the market, driven by the shepherd 
and two collie dogs. The sheep are running under the 
wheels and breaking up in front. The dogs are in the rear; 
they cannot pass. - Their master moves one hand for- 
ward, when one of these remarkable little animals mounts 
the backs of the sheep, jumping from one to the other, un- 
til he has reached the head of the column, quickly gathering 
up the scattered members into line. The entire movement 
was beautifully executed, and the little dog, having ceased 
barking, looks up for the approving smiles of his master. 

The great shipping docks are at Victoria, eight miles be- 
low. Only small pleasure-boats, } T achts, and other crafts 
pass up the river beyond London. 

I have been interested in studying the facilities for inter- 
communication and travel in this marvelous city — how these 
millions of people are distributed from center to circumfer- 



Sight-seeing in and About London. 43 

ence over its vast area. I find there are railroads running 
under the ground, on top of the ground, and over the tops 
of the houses. There are omnibus lines running from St. 
Paul's down the Strand to Parliament Square, and from 
these terminal points in every direction. There are thou- 
sands of cabs, hacks, hansoms, close carriages, dog-carts, 
and other vehicles for transportation. You walk along the 
streets, and presently you see a throng of people descending 
a flight of broad stone steps down deep under the ground, 
thirty or forty feet. Here is a magnificent railway station, 
double tracks, lighted up as bright as day. You can take 
one of these trains and travel around under the city for 
miles. Every few blocks are stations where the people pour 
in and out from the streets above. The trains are lighted 
with gas, and whiz by each other like a flash of lightning. 
These are called metropolitan railways, and cost five mill- 
ion dollars per mile. I like the London hansom. It is a 
very convenient and stylish turnout. It is a two-wheeler, 
with the driver dressed in livery, sitting high up behind. 
The horse's head is on a level with his eye, and the reins 
by which he is directed are pulled over the top of the ve- 
hicle. The shortest curves and turns may be made in the 
most crowded thoroughfares. The best way to see London 
is by the omnibus lines. There are no street railroads. 
You get a seat, if possible, by the driver, or on top in seats 
arranged second-class, protected by iron railings. You can 
ride five miles for two and half-penny, or five cents. If near 
the coachman, drop a shilling in his hand, and all London 
will open to you like a book. What immense deal of sight- 
seeing and gossip may be indulged in, now that the ice is 
broken ! From St. Paul's, on Ludgate Hill, by Holborn Cir- 
cus down the Strand to Parliament Square, miles away, 
you may study the gorgeous display of the shop-windows, 
the surging masses that press on either side for room or en- 



44 Around the World in 188 '4. 

trance, and the almost impenetrable jam in the street ex- 
cites the profoundest wonder how anybody escapes being 
crushed to death. You see the pedestrian with his carpet- 
bag and umbrella under his arm ; the wife in her furs; boys, 
dogs, carts, carriages, wagons, cattle, sheep, in inextricable 
confusion. We stop, then move; our driver becomes en- 
raged. I am afraid he is not a member of St. Paul's. 
But patience has its victories no less renowned than war. 
We pass Charing Cross through Trafalgar Square under 
the shadow of the great Nelson Monument, and finally 
reach our destination. We saw Rothschild, the money king, 
in his buggy drawn by two black ponies. Everybody was 
pointing him out. I should not have known him from oth- 
er men. 

We returned by the Thames Embankment, a quiet way 
along the river, that seemed to flow as quietly as sweet 
Afton. The piers and engineering of this work are among 
the grandest achievements of modern science. The English 
have erected on the Embankment the obelisk from Heliop- 
olis, presented by the Khedive of Egypt. The hieroglyphics, 
birds, reptiles, etc., engraved 'on the face of the monolith, 
look back into the mysterious past three thousand years of 
Egyptian history. Its consort may be seen in the Central 
Park of New York. The Rosetta stone, found by an En- 
glish officer at one of the mouths of the Nile, by which 
these characters have been translated in a written language, 
may 'be seen in the British Museum among the Egyptian 
antiquities. 



London — English Channel — Paris. 45 

CHAPTER IV. 

London — English Channel — Paris. 

I WAS just thinking how delightful it was to travel 
abroad for our pleasure. We seek it in every flower, 
in the river, the valley, and the sea, and sometimes in my 
sorrows it is waiting for me. 

Drs. Punshon and Spurgeon are among the noted preach- 
ers we hear in London. It is said, when they want to take 
up a big collection, they invite the Lord Mayor to hear Dr. 
Punshon preach. I had great curiosity to visit the Taber- 
nacle, for Spurgeon's fame had encircled the globe, and 
-had even reached my home when I was a boy. My good 
landlady had greatly honored me with a ticket to the fam- 
ily pew; but imagine my discomfiture when I entered to 
find a half-dozen people trying to occupy that seat. I ad- 
vanced to the pulpit steps, where I sat within thirty feet of 
the distinguished speaker. Here stood a short, heavy, 
thick -set man, with massive brow and broad shoulders. One 
distinctive feature would have stamped his nationality if 
others had been Avanting — it was the mutton-chop whiskers. 
Mr. Spurgeon appeared about fifty years of age. He was 
dressed in faultless black. He stood for a moment, casting 
a glance over his vast audience. Presently he read a chap- 
ter from the Bible; then the people began to sing. There 
were supposed to be five thousand persons present. Every- 
body sung in true old Georgia style. The chorus was grand. 
After prayer, another song. Mr. Spurgeon then selected 
for his text this passage, if I remember correctly : " By 
his stripes we are healed." In the treatment of his subject, 
he rose sometimes to grand flights of eloquence. His style 
is pleasing and argumentative, while oftentimes very im- 
pressive. He is very forcible in illustrations, and deals 
more with facts than in platitudes or generalities. Mr. 



46 Around the World in 188£. 

Spurgeon is a bold, fearless speaker, full of individual char- 
acteristics and personal magnetism. In speaking of pure 
religion, he proclaimed in a stentorian voice : "Away with 
this humbuggery and fraud — the Bishop of Canterbury and 
the Pope of Rome! Nothing but the blood of Christ can 
save you." I soon discovered, as I thought, the secret of 
his phenomenal success. It is not so much what he says, 
but his forcible illustrations, delineations, and apt expres- 
sions. His congregations, too, are composed of the very 
material to develop the power of his. effective ministry. 
These people are the medium, rather than the aristocratic, 
classes. They are workingmen, mechanics, artisans — the 
muscular development of the physical power in this great 
metropolis. This class is opposed to the aristocracy, the 
Established Church (Episcopal), and the monarchy of the 
Government. This dissension element, then, gives addi- 
tional inspiration to Spurgeon's effectual work. 

I think England, in religion as well as in politics, is grow- 
ing more tolerant and democratic. There are radical 
changes in progress throughout the kingdom, and I am 
struck with the growing tendency of the masses toward re- 
publican ideas and institutions. I have heard the gentry 
and aristocracy, in the discussion of abstruse political ques- 
tions, express grave apprehensions for the future. The 
troubles in Ireland, the land tenure-bills before Parliament, 
with Parnell and his colleagues, are threatening causes. 
The Eastern trouble with Egypt and the impending rupt- 
ure with Russia — which must eventually come — have pre- 
sented complicated questions before Mr. Gladstone's ad- 
ministration. The Government has conceded to Ireland, 
it seems, every thing the country ought reasonably to ex- 
pect; but the irritable temper of the- Irish people never 
allows them to be satisfied. There is a war party and a 
peace party on the question of Egyptian occupation. "The 



London — English Channel — Paris. 



47 




crops have been bad and trade dull," you will hear wher- 
ever you travel through England. These are serious con- 
fronting difficulties before the country and Government. 
An Englishman remarked to me : " You Americans are lay- 
ing down corn, beef, flour, and mutton cheaper than we 
can grow them. We buy nearly all our cheese and but- 
ter from you; but your Government, in return, taxes our 
manufactured goods out of your markets. The balance 



48 Around the World in 188 '4. 

of trade is against us. Farming does not pay here; and 
the overproduction of manufactured goods, without a pro- 
portionate ratio of consumption, is a serious question to be 
solved." " Sow your lands in grass, and raise more beef and 
mutton," said I, by way of consolation. " But England 
cannot compete with America. Your cheap lands and vast 
prairies give you the advantage." It is a source of morti- 
fication to the pride of English aristocracy that many of 
their splendid estates in Ireland, even in England and Scot- 
land, have been reduced so low in their incomes they have 
been compelled to neglect or abandon them. 

In 1878 I had the pleasure of meeting several Georgians in 
London. Many were here attending the Exposition in Paris, 
and several had extended their travels into the Holy Land. 
I had met Messrs. A. P. Collins and Jack Martin coming 
out of Warwick Castle, ^nd A. O. Bacon and Capt. John 
Rutherford, all of Macon, Ga., under the shadow of the 
great dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. The Southern gentle- 
man is regarded with profound respect by the English 
gentry. I have heard many express their loftiest admira- 
tion for Lee and Jackson and my countrymen of the South. 
How I wish they could have seen the fair ladies of my 
native land! Quite a number of other distinguished Geor- 
gians were on the Continent. Hon. R. E. Park and lady, 
Mr. L. M. Park and lady, Mr. Jack Crutchfield, of Macon, 
and cihers, were attending the great Exposition. My own 
party consisted of Mrs. E. Wilkinson and Miss Annie 
Demp^ey, of Macon ; Mrs. Susie A. Carter and J. D. Hough, 
of Talbotton ; who were joined by the Hon. Charles Piatt 
and lady, en route to Mentone, France, Maritime Alps. 
I had met Charley's wife once, when a girl, in her uncle's 
curio-^hop, in Berne, Switzerland. We recognized each 
other on board ship, soon after leaving New York. She 
was a Swiss girl, spoke beautiful French and English, and 



London — English Channel — Paris. 49 

had married Mr. Piatt while on a visit to some friends in 
Cincinnati. Charley had secured a consulate at Mentone, 
and now she was returning happily, with a good husband, 
to her native land. It was the pleasant memory of these 
old associations that induced me to stop at the same hotel 
at Blackfriars, and to take the old favorite route by Rouen 
to Paris. ,The distance across the English Channel by 
New Haven and Dieppe is longer than by Dover and 
Calais, but the valley of the Seine is charming. There is 
still another route by Folkstone and Boulogne. I have 
gone a little shorter; but it is only twenty-two miles from 
Dover Heights to Calais, while it is sixty to eighty miles 
by the other lines across. This channel, which divides En- 
gland from France, is the dread of all tourists. The North 
German Sea pours through the channel into the Atlantic, 
or the two waters meet, producing tremendous tides. It is 
nearly always rough. Experiments have been made with 
swinging berths on the boats, to obviate the vertigo, but 
they have proved a failure. There is a big gun on Dover 
Heights, which the English say has this story connected 
with it: 

Keep me dry and rub me clean, 

And I'lHhoot you across to Calais green. 

I have sometimes thought I would like to be shot across 
this English Channel. One time I was crossing it on a 
dreadful stormy night, and the heavy sea broke down the 
awning and frightened nearly all the passengers into the 
cabin below. I was sitting near an old lady when the panic 
began, holding on to the ship with all my strength, and 
she gathered me around the neck and came near hugging 
me to death. She like to have smothered me; but if she 
had xteen, and the ship had gone down, I never 

would have known it! 

i . fourteen hours between London and Paris, by 



50 Around the World in I8S4. 

the direct trains, first-class. We have understood every 
word we have heard in England ; we have been enabled to 
talk fluently with the most notorious people; we have felt 
perfectly at home; we have even conversed with the En- 
glish cockney who says " wa'al," " rarther," etc. ; but it is dif- 
ferent the moment you land in France. You hear a strange 
language, and you see a strange people. You must be 
ready if you talk with a Frenchman. My companion Den- 
ham had been studying French ever since we left New 
York. He carried a little book in his side-pocket that had 
French on one side translated into English on the other. 
He regarded himself .thoroughly equipped for any advent- 
ure in France. The moment we landed at Dieppe an un- 
educated native fired away at him, and Denham lost his 
balance. He had forgotten the only two words he had ac- 
quired by hard study. Finally the conversation resulted 
in vociferous language, Denham having cussed him out in 
English, which he never understood. It was a custom- 
house official, who wanted to examine the baggage. 

When we landed in Paris everybody spoke French ex- 
cept us. Even the children spoke it. We wanted to go to 
a hotel. We selected the longest name we could find in 
D.'sbook — Hotel de l'Athenee, Rue Scribe. We registered. 
The servant showed us up a palatial stair-way into a suit of 
rooms — gorgeously frescoed chambers hung with gobelin 
tapestry ; paintings, mirrors, Oriental lounges, divans, gilded 
chairs, marble basins, and velvet cushions to put our feet 
on. Denham remarked, by way of innuendo, we had better 
inquire the price of board at this establishment. They had 
certainly made a mistake, and put -us in the Queen's apart- 
ments. Thirty francs each per day, or twelve dollars for 
both. We did not inquire if this was the price of the room, 
or included board. It was too gorgeous for us. We moved 
to Rue Provence, at sixty dollars per month. Then every 



London — English Channel — Paris. 51 

night we walked up there or to the Grand Hotel near by 
on Boulevard de Capucine, and everybody thought we were 
stopping there. D. said we could eat at the cafes and use 
our tooth-picks about the big hotels, and do just as well. 
Many Americans did it. Once, just to be certain of the 
thing, we took "cafe au lait" in the Grand Hotel, and 
everybody saw us as we walked out of the frescoed saloon. 
You would have supposed we were the proprietors of the 
house. But we were perfectly surprised to find Americans 
here who could scarcely speak their language. They would 
register their names in French: "Messieurs A. Robinsong 
et fils; Monsieur Jean Smidt, New York, De l'Amerique." 
The second day H. and I took a pleasure drive five miles 
down the boulevards to the North-west Railroad depot. 
The driver was a Frenchman ; he could not speak a word 
of English. He handed us his "carte" by the hour. We 
had actually driven nearly half a day, and no depot yet. 
We had to touch him on the shoulder and request a stop; 
for it was getting too ubiquitous. It was growing monoto- 
nous, to say the least of it. We had a pair of new trousers 
Ave were expecting by the parcel express from London. 
When we would ask the cabman where the depot was (we 
knew that depot was a French word in Georgia), he would 
invariably shrug his shoulders and look wondrous wise. 
"Je ne comprends pas," he would say. D. thought he was 
an idiot — that he was crazy. I jumped out the " la voiturc" 
to interview an educated gentleman crossing the street. 
Says I, "Oui est la depot? Si' l'vous plait? Now, D. you 
see he is a cultivated citizen." He shrugged his shoulders. 
"Where is the depot?" shouted D. "Hold on, D., if you 
please; don't disturb our conversation with the gentleman. 
Oui est la depot ; la breechee, trousays — pantaloons, if you 
please?" The Frenchman was perfectly amazed. He gazed 
into the heavens like an astronomer. Then D. and the 



52 Around the World in I8S4. 

driver looked into the little book. The gentleman stood 
waiting until I could run and look in myself. We.found 
"depot" meant a depository for' military stores — a magazine 
of powder, for instance. There was not a word for panta- 
loons, breeches, or trousers in the French language. D. 
said: "Dad blast such a language, with no breeches in it!" 
The gentleman stood waiting in the street. I placed my 
finger on the French word for railroad — "che min de fer" 
— -and then he politely showed me the station. "No depot, 
monsieur," he would say, "la station. Si' l'vous plait." 
And that was the way we found the station. We never did 
find those pantaloons. 

There are many amusing mistakes made in learning the 
language. Dr. B., of Columbus, Georgia, asked, as he 
thought, for a drink of cold water, and a hot bath was pre- 
pared for him. Col. W. H. Young, of the same city, re- 
lated many amusing incidents that occurred during his 
travels on the Continent. It is so with nearly all foreigners. 
An American, once, landing at " Boulogne sur de mer," ad- 
dressed a Frenchman with the familiar expression, " Parlez 
vous Francaise? " " Oui, monsieur," replied the fisherman. 
"Well, pass me that gridiron over here." 

If London is attractive, Paris is perfectly charming. It 
is by far the most splendid capital in the world. Its fount- 
ains, palaces, drives, gardens, museums, promenades, its 
magnificent boulevards and galleries of art, are the admi- 
ration of the world. Its environs are equally attractive. 
Days might be spent in exploring the palace of Louis XIV. 
at Versailles — its two hundred acres of fountains, forest of 
statuary, and terraced gardens. 

We drove from the Notre Dame Cathedral, where Napo- 
leon and Josephine were married, through the Avenue des 
Champs Elysees, by the Arc de Triomphe ; then through the 
Bois de Boulogne, past St. Cloud, to the imperial city of 



London — English Channel — Paris. 53 

Versailles. What grandeur, what magnificence and beauty 
Ave beheld that day can be better imagined than described. 
The picture of thousands of people dressed in gay costumes 
around the fountains playing on Sunday recalled the 
scenes of fairy-land. Every thing about Versailles is on a 
grand scale. The palace is magnificent, its fountains lovely , 
its sylvan lakes, its woods of endless avenues, its Swiss cot- 
tages, its orangery, its grand flights of stone steps, are inde- 
scribably grand. Louis XIV. spent two hundred millions 
of dollars on this palace and grounds. It required more 
than thirty thousand men daily to construct it, and a tract 
of land sixty miles in circumference was converted from a 
wilderness into this marvelous creation. He then built a 
road fourteen miles long to connect it with Paris. It came 
near bankrupting France. We returned by Sevre, the 
Government porcelain works, and saw the artisans creating 
by hand the most marvelous works of art. A little piece 
of clay, deftly worked with the fingers, is converted into a 
pair of vases worth one thousand dollars. 

We visited the Morgue, that awful house of the dead, 
where the bodies of those who die mysteriously are exposed 
for identification. We looked through a grating, and saw 
the hats and clothes of dead men and women hung all 
around the inclosure. There was a body half nude laid on 
a marble slab, with a jet of cold water pouring on it. Peo- 
ple came and looked through the bars, cast a glance at 
the clothing, and walked solemnly away. Thousands of 
these bodies are fished up out of the river Seine, which passes 
close by, murmuring its quiet requiem to the unfortunate 
dead as it flows. 

We passed on through the Latin quarter of the students, 
and presently came in front of the Pantheon, whose lofty 
dome we had seen from every part of New Paris. Several 
cannon-shots were shown us that penetrated the building 



54 Around the World in IS84. 

during the rebellion of the Commune in 1870. We ascend- 
ed to the summit of its splendid dome, and viewed the pan- 
orama of Paris below. 

We wandered along until we came to the isle of St. Louis, 
in the river Seine. Here rose Notre Dame Cathedral, an 
old brown Gothic pile, with a splendid facade of rich carv- 
ings and its two lofty, square towers. It is six hundred 
years old. These old towers saw the mail-clad knights from 
Jerusalem come marching home; they looked down upon 
Bartholomew's massacre in 1572, and witnessed the carnage 
of that dreadful struggle; they saw the Revolution, the two 
Napoleons crowned, and have lived to see the fall of Na- 
poleon III. in 1870, and the restoration of the republic. 
We walked down its gloomy aisles, dazzled with the light 
that streamed through its stained-glass windows. I saw 
yellow, blue, and red saints and martyrs painted on them. 
We saw many paintings representing the apostles, the Vir- 
gin Mary, and the cross, hanging on the walls. Then the 
priest carried us across through a wilderness of tall columns 
and showed the robes the Pope wore when he crowned Na- 
poleon III., a cart-load of solid gold and silver plate he said 
the Commune had stolen during the Revolution, and the 
bloody robes of the great Archbishop of Paris who mount- 
ed the barricades in 1848 to pacify the mob, which cost him 
his life. He said the soldiers had once quartered their 
horses in this magnificent cathedral. We departed as un- 
happy as we came ; we wanted to see more. D. said as it 
was night, and all Paris was lit up as bright as day, we had 
better not do any more melancholy cathedrals or morgues, 
or even revel in the splendor of gorgeous jialaces. We had 
.better see some fun. 

We dined at our hotel from four to six — Hotel Sterh, fifty- 
five Rue Provence. D. always took wine; he was accus- 
tomed to it. But those little plates wore out his fortitude. 



Ijondoii — English Channel — Paris. 55 

They serve one at a time, with a bit of chicken, one vege- 
table, a piece of roast, an Irish potato upon it; one piece of 
bread and a diminutive piece of butter. When the claw- 
hammer waiter came with one of these plates he set it down, 
and fell back with arms folded in dignified reserve. D. 
atul I generally ate up ours before he could fall back. 
Then we would have to sit and wait until next course. We 
destroyed about a dozen of these side-dishes, and generally 
felt as hungry as when we commenced. D. said it reminded 
him of a play in Shakespeare, this dinner did — "Much Ado 
About Nothing." 

Sometimes we would take a carriage, then an- omnibus, or 
we would walk. There are no street -cars in Paris. At 
night we generally had" a promenade. D. said we must see 
the Champs Elysecs, the marvelous avenue of pleasure 
that sweeps from the Tuilleries Gardens through a wooded 
park ablaze with myriads of twinkling lights and playing 
fountains. Here were thousands of chairs arranged in line 
where we could rest, when fatigued, and watch the number- 
less flashing lanterns from moving carriages that glided by 
us as if they were gondolas on the water. Away down this 
splendid vista the grand avenue rose to a slight elevation, 
upon which stood the Arc de Triomphe. We could see 
through the open woods numerous Chan tan t gardens, with 
their names burning in colored gas-jets. Below was an im- 
perial circus, and still farther away was the famous Ma- 
bille. D. said the Chantant gardens just fascinated him. 
They were the only free places he had found in Paris; at 
least we had supposed so from the notice at the entrance, 
"No charge for admission." As we approached the door 
we heard delicious strains of music swelling and dying away 
amid parterres of beautiful flowers. We were seated in front 
of an open stage with $n awning overhead. The garden 
was full of elegant people, sipping small cups of coffee, ices, 



56 Around the World in 188 '4. 

and lemonade. The servant approached with a card. We 
ordered, D. taking wine, as usual. Presently the band be- 
gan to play, when the stage and the whole garden were lit 
up as bright as day. The manager announced the pro- 
gramme. Two men stepped out, bowed, said something, 
and left the audience convulsed with laughter. Everybody 
roared. We roared too. It was some witty thing they said 
in French. Then a charming mademoiselle, just so petit, 
just so cunning, just so sweet as she could be, smiled and 
bowed, and put her little finger between her pearly teeth. 
She sung a song and bowed beneath her numerous blushes. 
D. said that was the prettiest girl he ever saw — she had 
such charming red lips and rosy cheeks. He would not 
mind marrying that girl. We rose to leave, perfectly de- 
lighted, when this same piratic-looking fellow who brought 
the ices presented a bill. It seemed nearly a yard long. We ' 
looked at each other and began to wonder. D. declared it 
was a fraud. He knew it was all free. He saw it on the 
gate-post! He then intimated that a few more entertain- 
ments like that would throw him into the bankrupt court. 

We started out toward the avenue again, and took one of 
those refreshing seats. Presently an old woman came hob- 
bling around with a little pocket in front, and spoke to D. 
D. said: "What in the world do you want now, old lady? 
I am not troubling you.", "Pay'e moi si' l'vous, plait?'' 
" What does that old idiot say ? I believe she is plumb crazy 
— a lunatic." "Yes, D., she wants pay for that seat you 
are sitting in." "Why, stuff; they don't charge here, do 
they, for sitting down?" 

We went to the royal circus just to see the animals. 
There was a little stool at every seat, and D. thoughtlessly 
put his foot on one of them. Presently here came that 
same old woman, or one just like her, with the little wallet 
in front. " Here it is ; I know what you want. Come, let 's 



Sights and Scenes in Paris. 57 

get out of here ! " shouted D. " I never saw such folks. You 
can't sit down, or even put your foot on a stool, without 
paying for it. 



CHAPTER V. 

Sights and Scenes in Paris. 

WE visited the Louvre, the most wonderful gallery of 
painting and sculpture in the world, except the Vati- 
can at Rome. We walked miles through its marble halls, 
gazing upon the creations of Rubens, Vandyke, Tintoretto, 
and Andrea del Sarto — every school from the Flemish re- 
naissance to modern art being represented in its vast collec- 
tions. There are hundreds of artists, with their little lad- 
ders, all through this palatial building, copying the most 
noted works of the masters. The Apollo Belvedere and 
several lovely Venuses are among the triumphs of ancient 
art. Those old Greeks and Romans did know how to chisel 
a pretty woman out of a piece of marble. 

The Hotel Cluny is an interesting old place to visit on 
account of its great antiquity and rare collection of curios. 
We stood under the gilded dome of the Hotel des Inva- 
lides that holds in grateful repose the last remains of the 
great Napoleon. His battle-flags, that waved in triumph 
over the bloody fields of Marengo, Austerlitz, and Lodi, 
are furled in silence around his magnificent tomb. Upon 
the entrance is this inscription: "I desire my ashes shall 
rest upon the banks of the Seine, among a people I loved so 
well." I saw an old soldier here who fought at the battle 
of Waterloo. 

We visited the beautiful Church of the Madeleine, with 
its gorgeously frescoed ceilings. Unlike many cathedrals, 
it is well provided with comfortable seats. 

The Colonne de Juillet, or Column of July, is one of the 



58 Around the World in 188 4. 

grand monuments of Paris, erected on the site of the Bas- 
tile. Here Louis Philippe was presented to the people by 
Lafayette, and here has flowed the blood of revolutions. 

As you walk down Rue la Paix you arrive at Place 
Vendome. From this spot rises a monument one hundred and 
thirty-five feet high, built out of twelve hundred cannons the 
great Napoleon captured from the Austrians and Russians, 
surmounted by a statue of the Emperor. It is modeled 
after Trajan's column in Rome. The bass-reliefs on the base 
and column represent his victories. There is a winding 
staircase inside, composed of one hundred and seventy-six 
steps, by which the summit may be reached and a glorious 
view of Paris enjoyed. The Arc de Triomphe, at the en- 
trance to the Bois du Boulogne, cost five million dollars, 
and presents fine representations of Lodi and other battles 
carved in the solid stone. 

The sewers under Paris are large enough to drive a car- 
riage through, and the catacombs, which we have explored 
forty feet beneath the city, contain streets of solid bones 
many miles in length. The different bones are so arranged 
in crosses, horizontally and vertically, as to produce a pleas- 
ing, artistic effect; the skulls, with their griuning teeth and 
eyeless sockets, being piled in solid tiers by the tens of thou- 
sands along these avenues. I saw many pretty inscrip- 
tions and tombs loving hands have placed as tributes to de- 
parted worth. Each of us followed the guide with a candle 
through these dark labyrinths of streets. The bones of 
three million people repose beneath the city of Paris, Avhile 
over two million are overhead. The overburdened cemeter- 
ies are relieved by removal to these vast receptacles, from 
which the material has been obtained for building up the 
magnificent city of Paris and its numerous splendid monu- 
ments. People are buried in Paris by an organized com- 
pany, which seems to have a monopoly of the business. 



Sights and Scenes in Paris. 59 

The magnificence of a funeral and length of cortege are 
determined by the wealth of the mourners. A poor man 
goes in the ditches at the city's expense, and his bones, after 
awhile, are removed to the catacombs. The rich are in- 
terred -in Pere la Chaise and Montmartre. One of the 
most interesting visits we made was to the former, the na- 
tional burying-ground of France, where the most illustri- 
ous of her dead men and women repose. Pere la Chaise is 
beautifully situated on the slope of a hill overlooking the 
city from a commanding eminence. It has many streets 
leading through it, on which are built thousands of little 
stone houses, with doors and windows, for all the world 
like a city, but it is a city of the dead. I looked through 
the glass doors upon the Virgin Mary, the cross, and the 
family altar, where devotional exercises are often paid by 
the living mourners. On top of the hill a simple slab with 
the name of Ney carved on the door-sill is all I saw of 
this grand old hero, "whose stormy spirit knew no music 
like the bugle-call to arms." Here Rachel and Massena, 
in tragedy repose; Laplace, the astronomer, and La Fon- 
taine, with many other illustrious personages whose names 
are written on their monuments in Pere la Chaise. Near 
the gate, to the right as we entered, we found the grave of 
Abelard and Hcloise, whose romantic" story of love has 
been written and sung throughout the world. "Go when 
you will, you find somebody snuffling over that tomb." Yet 
how few know the true history of these remarkable people ! 
Abelard was a priest. He married this woman secretly, to 
keep his own name untarnished, while her good name re- 
mained under a cloud as before. Here was a noble, self- 
sacrificing love, but it lacked discretion. A man of tower- 
ing ability, Abelard finally died a wreck. He was buried 
in Hotel Cluny, in A.D. 1144; and Heloise died twenty 
years later, and was buried with him. On top of the tomb 



60 Around the World in 1884. 

there are reclining figures representing the unfortunate 
lovers. 

Near the Rue de Rivoli and the Garden of the Tuilleries 
stand four splendid monuments, representing Metz, Stras- 
burg, and other cities of the empire at that time. One of 
the four Egyptian obelisks, that originally came from Heli- 
opolis and Alexandria, of which the other three now stand 
in Rome, London, and New York, rises sixty feet high on 
this historic spot. This is the famous Place de la Concorde, 
on which the guillotine was worked during the Revolution 
of 1789. Here Louis XVI., Robespierre, Marie Antoinette, 
Madame Roland, and thousands of others, perished. The 
words that confront us on the public buildings — in fact 
everywhere — "Libert^, Fraternite, and Egalite," and the 
statue of the "Genius of Liberty" that rises on the spot 
once occupied by the Bastile, are sad mementos of that 
bloody revolution. 

The French are a curious and singular people, which 
these revolutions have demonstrated. They are atheistic 
as well ; and during this memorable struggle, when reason 
had been dethroned, they worshiped an infamous woman in 
Notre Dame as its goddess. They desecrated the churches, 
and changed the name of one into the Pantheon, which 
should contain a monument or inscription to every name in 
its history worthy to be remembered. Only during the last 
communistic struggle of 1871 the Government troops shot 
three hundred insurgents in the beautiful Church of the 
Madeleine. They are refined and cultivated, but they are 
an impatient, restless people. The Government does much 
to instruct and amuse them. It expends thousands to en- 
courage the best writers of dramatic talent for its theaters — 
millions on its galleries and museums of art, beautiful gar- 
dens, fountains, and embellished walks, drives, and parks, 
many of which are opened free to the public. While the 



Sights and Scenes in Paris. 01 

people are difficult of restraint, they are not unpatriotic. 
They love their country. Very few ever emigrate to for- 
eign lands. When the Government goes to war the people 
generally go with it. 

I witnessed a scene in the Bourse here in 1872, when the 
war indemnity of one thousand millions of francs was being 
raised for Prussia. It was an indescribable scene. Thou- 
sands of enthusiastic people, with little slates in their hands, 
rushed madly through the vast building, bidding on the 
Government rentes. Presently the auctioneers stopped; but 
the people kept bidding. Every farmer and tradesman had 
brought up his little bag to rescue the Government. It was 
like a tub overflowed by still pouring on water. Millions 
were bid they had no use for ; and the debt was paid. It 
required whole trains of cars to move that specie away. 
They are a very industrious and economical people. Nearly 
all the farmers in France own their lands, and this is one 
of the secrets of their prosperity. 

Americans are wild with delight on reaching Paris. There 
is so much to instruct and amuse them here. No city will 
rival its uniform architecture, its broad, clean streets, its 
pleasure drives, parks, and places of amusement. When 
the city is lit up as bright as day, the boulevards at night 
are thronged with its splendid equipages, and its thousands 
of pleasure-loving people sit around little marble tables on 
the sidewalks under beautiful awnings in front of the cafes. 
The scene presented is one of bewilderment. It is simply 
indescribable. 

The Grand Opera? Yes, we wanted to see the interior 
of this marvelous building, this incomparable piece of archi- 
tecture. We had walked around it many times, admiring its 
grand porticoes and the stupendous, massive pile of granite 
and marble that covered four acres of ground and towered 
away in royal magnificence many stories high. Our party 



62 Around the World in 1884- 

consisted of six, D. among the number. "Faust" was to 
be played; but we were going to see the statuary and fres- 
coes; we cared nothing about this looking-glass perform- 
' ance, D. and I went to secure tickets. They were all sold, 
said the agent, except one "loge." "How fortunate that 
Prince Gortchakoff will not be present this evening! Your 
party are Americans, I presume?" continued this bland 
Frenchman. "Yes; but we are not fools. How much 
for that 'loge?'" "Just three hundred francs, messieurs. 
Very cheap; very elegant." "Ten dollars a seat! Give 
us seats in the gallery ; we want to see every thing! " shouted 
D. It was so steep away up. there, we were in constant 
dread of pitching over on the vast parquet a hundred feet 
below us. When we rose for refreshments, our chairs all 
flew together. We could not change but those seats tried 
to collapse on us. Three dollars a seat! Well, it was per- 
fectly gorgeous. Groups of painting and sculpture,, with 
allegorical frescoes overhead representing winged angels 
flying about, and little Cupids and Venuses hiding and blush- 
ing in rosy bow r ers, just captivated us. 

Next day we strolled through the Jardin des Plantes, and 
saw its animals, its miles of plants and beautiful flowers. 
We could have spent days in the mwseums of natural his- 
tory prepared by Cuvier alone. Here we paid our respects 
to Monsieur Georges Ville, the distinguished scientist a'nd 
member of Academie de Science, whom we had met in 1872. 
He invited us to visit with him the " La Ferme National," 
or Government experimental farm, at Vincennes, where he 
had startled the world by his wonderful experiments. We 
saw in his laboratory the apparatus he had invented by 
which he was enabled to make these discoveries. He made 
one or two reductions of acids for us. I met Madame Ville, 
a woman as remarkable in many respects as her distinguished 
husband. They both asked me about the death of Mr. 



• Sights and Scenes in Paris. 63 

Charles Wallace Howard, of Kingston, Georgia, and about 
his accomplished daughter, who had translated one of his 
works for the farmers of Georgia. I had the honor of hear- 
ing Monsieur Ville lecture in the Academy of Science when 
I had first met him, through an introduction of Prof. Musa, 
another renowned scholar. I saw Alexandre Dumas, the 
novelist, and many other illustrious men in science and let- 
ters assembled on this occasion. Prof. Ville requested me 
to send him a specimen of phosphatic rock, at Charleston, 
for examination. I was presented by these gentlemen with 
copies of their works in French, which I have added to my 
library at home. 

Faubourg St. Antoine may be called the antipode of Ver- 
sailles, with its splendid statues, gardens, and fountains. 
Here are the squalid abodes of vice, the haunts of sin, pov- 
erty, dirt, and rags; the birthplace of revolution and the 
chiffonnier head-quarters; the market for old clothes and 
the homes of the Communists who stormed the Tuilleries and 
brought down the Column Vendome in the dark davs of 
1870 and 1871. Louis Napoleon straightened out the lit- 
tle crooked streets, and laid them with asphaltum where 
these people once built barricades with the flag-stones and 
dug up the cobbles to fight with. Thirteen boulevards ra- 
diate from the Arc de Triomphe. You can shoot a can- 
non-ball down these streets so straight that no mob could 
stand before them. 

Paris is still a walled city. She has had to fight her bat- 
tles at her very gates. England fights hers abroad. The 
walls of Paris are among the finest fortifications in the 
world. It was difficult for the Prussians to storm them; it 
was difficult for the French troops to carry them against 
the Communists, who so long held the city against the na- 
tional army. 

London is Protestant; Paris is Catholic. On Sunday in 



64 Around the World in 188J/.. 

London its churches resound with praises to the Lord, busi- 
ness is suspended, and even many of the trains on the rail- 
roads have ceased to run. After services in Paris, it is a 
holiday. I have seen the farmers and their wives at work 
in the fields, the women sewing, and business going on as 
usual. In England the fullest guarantee is accorded to the 
freedom of speech. The Cabinet is held accountable for its 
management of the Government, notwithstanding the En- 
glish claim the "king can do no wrong." Here, if a jour- 
nalist criticises the acts of the Government, he is arrested 
and imprisoned. But no papers in America are more out- 
spoken and fearless in denunciation of public men and 
crime than the London journals. In contrasting Loudon 
and Paris, we see an air of quiet dignity and sobriety about 
the one, and costly ornamentation and a volatile character 
about the other. It has been said, " The Englishman is 
like his Church — plain and well built; the Frenchman or- 
naments both his person and his Church." The French- 
man lives at home, the Englishman abroad. The English 
are the greatest colonizers on the globe, the French the 
poorest. England builds ships, and sends her manufactures 
to her colonies and every country on the globe. Wherever 
her flag floats she plants the standard of the cross. The 
Bible, with her cheap coal and iron, has made her the 
mightiest power on earth. 

France is a nation of small farmers, artisans, and manu- 
facturers, with superior taste and culture for diversified in- 
dustries. The economical habits of these classes have made 
them wealthy and prosperous. They are a polite and cult- 
ured people, with a love for the beautiful in art and nature. 
Paris has become, in consequence, the fashionable capital 
of the world. Americans, and even Europeans, rush here 
in the wildest delight to spend the remainder of their days. 
I have contrasted the civilization of these two couutries as 



Excursion Through Italy. 65 

most interesting to Americans; but the growing military 
and aggressive powers of Europe are Germany and Russia. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Excursion Through Italy. 

LEAVING Paris, for Ronie and Naples, we pass Fon- 
tainebleau, Modane, Mt. Cenis Tunnel, Allessandria, 
Genoa, and Pisa. If no other name but. that of Josephine 
had been associated with Fontainebleau, it would never 
have perished in history. Its famous old park of venerated 
trees, with a grand avenue sweeping through them, its pret- 
ty hedges and gardens, its bright lawns that look as if they 
had been swept and brushed every day, its stately lanes of 
poplar-trees, are marvels of symmetry and beauty. The 
French peasant, in his blue blouse, with his wife and chil- 
dren, is cultivating his field. He has his bread and wine, 
with plenty of chestnuts for the children. He raises poul- 
try, eggs, vegetables, and fruits, to sell. The valleys are 
sown in grain, and the sunny slopes of the hills are planted 
in vines. Fie raises double crops on his lands. He plants 
vegetables and grain under the poplar-trees. They give no 
shade. He trims them of their boughs nearly to the top. 
The faggots are used as fuel to cook his slender meals. You 
see all his family hoeing in the field, and when the grain is 
ready for the sickle, you will see his wife helping him to 
cradle it. . Wood is sold by the pound, and is hardly ever 
used for warming the house. The people sit and shiver in 
the cold. He knows little of the comforts of home. He 
has hardly ever a cow for milk, a pig, or sheep. I have 
seen very few of these domestic animals. The farm is di- 
vided up into narrow strips from ten yards to one hundred 
yards wide and six hundred yards long — from one to ten 
acres. Every time a father dies, the farm is divided up 
5 



66 Around the World in 188^. 

among his heirs. Sometimes they have been cut up into so 
many little long strips they are hardly fifty yards wide 
by six hundred long ; some are smaller than this. Look 
out of my window, and these strips appear like a carpet of 
beautiful greens. There is a belt of Irish potatoes, oats, 
clover, alfalfa (Lucerne), cabbage, carrots, pease, gooseber- 
ries, currants, and a little of every thing. When the oats 
and barley turn to a golden hue. the landscaj)e becomes 
perfectly charming. These people live in villages and towus, 
and walk out barefooted to the farms. The women do not 
keep house like our women in America ; they work in the 
field. I have seen them cuttiug wheat, pitching hay on 
the wagon, driving cows and oxen, plowing, cradling, and 
doing as much work as any man. They have tremen- 
dous feet and big waists. They are as strong as mules. 
They work in Belgium and Germany as well. I saw a 
woman and a dog pulling a harrow once on my way from 
Brussels to Waterloo. These women are the mothers of the 
soldiers in the army. 

I have said the French farmer owns his land. There 
must be nearly one million of small farms belonging -to the 
peasants, containing one-half to five acres each. About two 
acres is the average. The rent is one-half for the other, and 
improved lands for farming bring from two hundred and 
fifty to four hundred dollars per acre, while those in vines 
bring more. In England about three hundred thousand 
people own all the land, and two hundred and thirty of this 
number own most of it. In France these little gardens or 
farms are owned by seven or eight million people. You ask 
a man if he makes any thing clear : " O not much ; I laid up 
about five hundred francs last year." You are astounded. 
You begin to wonder how he did it. Well, he spent nothing. 
He has eaten a little coarse bread and wine for breakfast ; 
soup, bread, and wine, for dinner; may be bread and milk 



Excursion Through Italy. 67 

for supper. He never indulges in such luxuries as tea and 
coffee. They are wofiilly ignorant. They loan their money, 
as I have observed, to the Government, at about six per 
cent, per annum. It is stated that the farmers have on de- 
posit in the savings-banks of France nearly one hundred 
million dollars. 

Such pretty glimpses of the Rhone, such landscapes, as 
we glide along into Southern France! The cars are much 
like those described in England. The officials are dressed 
in uniform. They are so polite! You must purchase your 
ticket before you pass into the waiting-room, and you can- 
not pass from it until the train is ready to start. Before 
yon start every ticket is examined. This is for your good. 
You are always put on the right train. Accidents are rare, 
very rare, on French railroads. We either pass under a 
wagon-road, through a tunnel, or over one by a bridge — 
never across them on a level. Switches are changed away 
ihead, by pulling a wire rope or wire along-side the track, 
from station to station. Those overhead, on poles, are for 
messages. About every mile or so, it seemed to me, I 
saw a man with a club or flag come out and hold it up 
till the train passed, to show all was right ahead. All 
head officials are held responsible for subordinates. 

If I had a day, I would stop at Lyons, the second largest 
city in France. It is a famous old town for silks, velvets, 
and satins. It is beautifully situated at the confluence of 
two rivers, the Rhone and the Saone. It was the Lug- 
dunum of the ancient Romans and the capital of Celtic 
Gaul. Bulwer Lytton has rendered its name immortal. 

As we approach the Alpine range that divides France 
and Switzerland from Italy, the configuration of the coun- 
try is changed from a plain and beautifully sloping hills to 
towering mountains. Their summits are covered with snow, 
but the vallevs are green below. The farmer, with his 



68 



Around the World in 1884. 




CITY OF LYONS, FROM THE PARK OF THE TETE tf OR. 



Excursion Through Italy. 69 

yoke of large white oxen is turning over the new sod; his 
daughter is leading a single goat around a little lake; while 
the cuckoo utters its plaintive wail as the sweet harbinger 
of approaching spring. What a theme for the poet and a 
picture for the artist nature has lavished on beautiful Cham- 
bry ! 

When we reached Modane, on the French side, there was 
bustle and confusion — trains arriving and departing through 
the Mt. Cenis Tunnel; examination of baggage, passports, 
etc., on the frontier between France and Italy. I looked 
up and saw a train winding around down from the great 
tunnel, four thousand feet above the sea. Modane is the 
last station. As we begin to climb higher and higher above 
the valley, the atmosphere becomes crisp and cold. The 
scene below is indescribably grand. We enter an immense 
opening in a rugged peak before us, walled with stone. Our 
train is lighted from above. We move slowly, as if feeling 
our way through the impenetrable darkness. When we 
have gone thirteen thousand two hundred and fifty-six 
yards, the sky with its glorious sunlight bursts upon us. 
Then we make many short tunnels in succession, with open 
spaces intervening, until we have made the last. It must 
require two hours or more. We descend rapidly now, on 
the Italian side, to the valley below, with fearful chasms 
yawning and rugged mountains rising thousands of feet 
above us, covered with snow. 

This tunnel, commenced in 1857, conjointly by the Gov- 
ernments of France and Italy, from both sides of the Alps, 
required nine years for its completion. -It was bored by 
pneumatic pressure, and cost thirteen million dollars. 
When the engineers met in the center of this mountain of 
granite, their calculations showed the nicest precision. 
There is another tunnel finished since, called the St. Goth- 
ard ; and still north of this is the famous artillery road, 



70 Around the World in ISS^.. 

called the Tete Noirand Simplon Passes, made by Napoleon 
the Great. Over this he inarched his army into Italy. 
Hannibal had crossed the Alps, farther south, before Christ 
was born ; but no such engineering as the Simplon had ever 
been seen before. In 1872 I traveled by this celebrated 
route from Cha.mounix, at the foot of Mt. Blanc, by Mar- 
tigny, that led me over the loftiest mountains down upon 
the classic lakes of Maggiore, Lugano, and Como, in North- 
west Italy. Sometimes I was eight thousand feet above 
the sea. I saw an Englishman who had been overwhelmed 
in a snow-storm, on the St. Gothard, just south of me, in 
the month of August. Soon after leaving Chamounix, I 
noticed Napoleon's name, with date, cut in front of a tun- 
nel. I saw the drill-holes on the perpendicular walls of 
granite, and the stones with which he had filled in gorges 
and built bridges over chasms, to move his army and ar- 
tillery. The road was so narrow we had to work our mule 
and horse tandem, one in front of the other. It will scarcely 
average six feet. It is cut in the sides of the mountains, 
winding around from the deepest gorge to the loftiest sum- 
mits; then it descends zigzag, making the next ascent in 
the same way. But we seemed to rise higher and higher, un- 
til we had ascended far above the clouds. One of the most 
terrific scenes I ever beheld was a storm in the Alps, with 
its electrical phenomena of thunders echoing from cavern- 
ous depths, and lightning leaping from crag to peak, over 
precipices into dark abysses below, rolling away in awful 
grandeur down Alpine gorges. Above me were cloudless 
skies. I saw the sun rise and set in the Alps. It bathed the 
snow-capped summits of the Jungfrau, Matterhorn, and 
Monte Rosa in a flood of gorgeous light. There were purple, 
vermilion, and orange, shading into other tints of the rain- 
bow, that shone resplendent in this glorious picture, though 
it faded when the blue vaulted dome of heaven was lit up 



Excursion Through Italy. 71 

with the myriads of twinkling lights. It lives among the 
fadeless memories of that tour across the Alps. 

As we approach Turin, I look northward across the 
beautiful vale of Piedmont, and I see the snow-capped 
summit of Mt. Blanc once more. We have left the Alps 
far behind us as we steam dow T n this beautiful plain of 
the vine and mulberry toward Alessandria. Here Indian 
corn, barley, oats, and wheat are cultivated between long 
avenues of trees, whose clustering vines are festooned one 
from the other. 

We pass Turin. It was the base of Csesar's operations 
when he conquered Gaul, beyond the Alps. It is now one 
of the finest modern cities of Italy, with a population of 
more than two hundred thousand. It is watered by the 
river Po. Here that grand old patriot Garibaldi has lived. 

If it will not fatigue you, I will take you north of Ales- 
sandria, by the battle-field of Marengo, past rugged peaks, to 
see the wonders of Milan, the Lake of Como, then back to 
Milan and Alessandria. We shall only have time to see 
at Milan the marble cathedral — the light, airy, graceful 
wonder of the world. We will behold its wilderness of 
spires, surmounted by statues, looming up in the skies. 
There are over seven thousand marble statues, with more 
statues and spires yet to be built. The walls, the floors, and 
the entire building, are all marble. It is said it has cost 
over one hundred million dollars, and will require one hun- 
dred years yet and millions more to finish it. There are 
four staircases that go up to the great steeple, four hundred 
feet high. I did not go up. I wanted to see the relics and 
treasures valued at ten million dollars. I sometimes wish I 
could believe every thing I saw ; but it does not matter. 
The collection here is wonderful — nearly every thing, from 
the crown of thorns, a picture of the Virgin and child, to 
a nail that came out of the cross. I asked my guide to 



72 Around the World in I884. 

show me that nail. He pointed his finger above, toward 
the vaulted roof, and finally said they did not show it only, 
on certain occasions. Several bones of the disciples -and a 
piece of the handkerchief the Saviour wiped his face on, 
where he left its impression, are among the relics exhibited. 

The largest theater in the world, " La Scala," is here. 
We did not see it. 

Here, in an old dilapidated building, may be seen the 
original of the greatest painting in the world, " The Last 
Supper," by Leonardo da Vinci. You will see an artist in 
front copying it. In fact, artists are cop) 7 ing all these old 
pictures of Rubens, Titian, Raphael, Michael Angelo, and 
many others. The originals look very old, and many of 
their once brilliant tints are faded now. 

Thirty miles north-west of Milan I stopped at the old 
town of Como, and in a few minutes we were gliding over 
the matchless lake. We saw Bellagio at the water's edge, 
and houses hanging on a cliff hundreds of feet overhead. 
The water is as clear as crystal. The mountains rise from 
one to two thousand feet all around. At night we sail over 
its placid bosom amidst the reflections of the stars; we look 
across Como on the Alps that rise in Switzerland, look at 
the pretty houses and gardens clustered around its shores, 
and I see them up on the mountain-slopes with their twink- 
ling lights that appear to be shining out of the heavens. 
Como is scarcely a mile wide, but over one thousand feet 
deep, so said. It winds around among these lofty mount- 
ains about fifteen miles. Its myrtles and groves, its snow- 
clad mountains, which are in the distance, with the Lady 
of Lyons, have been sung unto exhaustion. 

We will return to Alessandria and go down to Genoa. 
We want to see the beautiful Mediterranean, and flash down 
its shores by Pisa to Rome and Naples. Italy approaches 
Georgia in the production of delicious peaches and melons. 



Excursion Through Italy. 73 

Her vineyards cannot be excelled in all Europe. Every- 
where you see the mulberry cultivated, both for the wine 
and the silk-worm. The tree is continually cut back, or 
pruned, to produce tender sprigs and leaves for the worms. 
As soon as the leaves appear in the spring the eggs are 
hatched out by artificial means, and the long white worm 
is soon at work spinning its cocoon. The peasants sell their 
crops of cocoons to the mills or merchants in Turin, Milan, 
and Genoa. 

When we reached Genoa we thought of the statue of 
Columbus, the discoverer of America. It stands immedi- 
ately in front of the station. As a work of art it is wor- 
thy the highest consideration. Genoa looks out from her 
proud eminence in regal splendor. The city is protected 
by a moat and batteries on her lofty heights that well-nigh 
render her impregnable. The great number and beauty of 
her palaces entitle her to the proud distinction of la sw- 
perba. The works of Titian, Guido, Paul Veronese, Van- 
dyke, and Carlo Dolci, adorn their walls. Here the finest 
silks and velvets are manufactured and sold at half the 
price they are in Paris or London. The ladies do not visit 
in Genoa, but appear on the Corso in the evening in their 
long, flowing white veils. They gather these tastefully 
about their heads Avith gold pins, and let them fall in grace- 
ful profusion over their classic arms and shoulders. They 
are as dressy and graceful as they can be. They robe them- 
selves in a "cloud of white" of beautiful illusions, and, 
with their long, flowing veils, these Genoese women do look 
so charming. Many of them are very fair, with blue eyes; 
but the black, brown, dreamy ones are most dominant. The 
gentlemen were all dressed in the latest Parisian styles. 
The park was lit up with gas-jets, the fountains and band 
began to play, and these snowy-robed ladies glided on the 
arms of the gentlemen around and around under the trees 



Around the World in I884. 



"like so many snow-flakes." It was a most fascinating 
scene — this meeting of the old and young, the belles and the 
beaux, in this fairy-land of trees, fountains, music, and 
beautiful gardens. I should like to remain a week in Ge- 
noa amid this "freshet of loveliness" and beauty. It is so 
exhilarating, so soothing, to the wearied traveler. But I 
should always be in trouble. It would be difficult to make 
up "one's mind here." They are so pretty, so much like 
our Southern girls — the girls of America. • " By the time a 
man could make up his mind he would fall in love with 
somebody else." 

Nothing can be more picturesque than this sea-side route 
from Genoa to Rome, by way of Pisa. It is a picture of 
rare beauty. We leave under a great tunnel, opening out 
on a grand view of the blue Mediterranean, with lofty em- 
battled heights rising above us. Every thing is so ethereal, 
so blue, so tranquil, with majestic mountains rising in the 
background all covered with snow. As we glide around 
lofty mountains, whose slopes are studded with olive-trees, 
we pass village after village, and villa after villa, embow- 
ered in orange-groves, lemons, limes, figs, and pomegranates, 
whose fragrant bloom has filled the air. What glorious 
panoramas! What grandeur, what picturesqueness over- 
whelm us! What charming views of the sea from these 
palatial homes ! 

Our train for Pisa and Leghorn is crowded. At every 
station the third-class passengers drink wine and eat bread. 
Wine at one -lire (twenty cents) a gallon. A regular pic- 
nic. Everybody seems to be enjoying the occasion. Such 
talking, such familiarity, such jolly laughter and bursts of 
applause! Surely this peasant population of Italy must be 
a happy one. I saw a woman enter an open car with her 
young " kid " strapped on a pillow. She laid it — that is, 
the pillow — across her lap. The baby never cried. It was 



Excursion Through Italy. 75 

a marvel of patience. I cannot imagine a Georgia brat so 
pacific under such circumstances. The whole neighbor- 
hood would have been alarmed. These people all appear to 
be "kin." Here are one hundred or more, all talking fa- 
miliarly, eating bread and drinking wine. Some of them, 
I know, have come with me for hundreds of miles. They 
have never met each other before, yet you would suppose 
they were all old friends and neighbors. They make wry 
faces, gestures, and grimaces really grotesque, for each oth- 
er's amusement. They are a jolly, good-natured "set." 
They despise conventional etiquette. They join socially, 
men and women alike, in the most animated discussions of 
various subjects. They are decidedly gossipy, to put it in 
its mildest form. 

It was late at night before I arrived at Pisa — famous old 
city, famous for its Leaning Tower (the Campanile), the 
Duomo, and Campo Santo. I could not rest at my hotel 
for the intermittent squalls of a young bantling next door. 
I wonder if they had unstrapped it. Well, it needed strap- 
ping again. But there was one consolation — it was all the 
English I heard in Pisa. It was so natural, so home-like. 
Pisa is a deceased old town now. Once it was so powerful 
it defied even Genoa and Venice for supremacy and re- 
nown. It boasts of great antiquity and several wonderful 
sights. I ascended the Campanile, or Leaning Tower, 
justly accounted one of the wonders of the world. The 
most remarkable feature about it is its declination from the 
perpendicular. It is one hundred and ninety feet high, 
consisting of eight stories, with projecting galleries of seven 
feet. The top story overhangs the base on one side fifteen 
feet, but the center of gravity is ten feet within the base. 
It is a bell-tower, with a chime of ancient bells hanging in 
it. It is seven hundred years old, but we cannot tell whether 
it was built purposely this way or its sides have settled. 



76 



Around the World in 1884. 




THE LEANING TOWER AT PISA. 



Excursion Through Italy. TJ 

There is no traditional or historical account concerning it. 
My own impression is that it was originally built in this 
leaning position. It is constructed on a very broad, solid 
granite base. It is a graceful and very handsome structure. 
Each of its eight stories is surrounded by fluted columns, 
with Corinthian capitals, some marble and others of gran- 
ite. I ascended to the top by a winding staircase of stone 
steps, very much worn in places, from the inside. Occa- 
sionally I would go outside around the circular galleries. 
When I walked around on the lower side the tower ap- 
peared to be falling, and I would hurry to the upper side 
under the silly impression that it was falliug from my weight 
upon it.* You feel like bearing down on the upper side. 
I enjoyed all my views from this direction. I did not take 
any from the lower side. I apprehend nobody has ever at- 
tempted such a thing. The city below and the Campagna, 
that stretched away for miles to the foot of lofty mount- 
ains, presented a panorama of rare beauty. The whole of 
this vast plain was cultivated like a garden. 

The Campo Santo is a burial-ground, the earth of which 
was brought from Jerusalem. There are a few magnificent 
monuments, statues, and paintings here that rank this the 
most interesting of the Pisan curiosities. The body of the 
Countess Beatrice rests in a magnificent sarcophagus. It ap- 
pears that the devotional spirit of the olden times attached 
more importance to the outward forms of worship than it did to 
the sanctification of the heart and guarding it against sin- 
ful deeds. Hence this holy dirt possessed great power and 
efficacy in saving the dead. 

One of the finest cathedrals in all Europe is the old Du- 
omo, that stands close by the Leaning Tower. Its grandeur 
has outlived the prosperity and fall of Pisa. It is eight 

*A cord hung from the. center on top would touch the wall be- 
fore it reached the bottom. 



78 Around the World in 1884- 

hundred years old. In the spacious rotunda of the bap- 
tistery, older still than the Duomo, I saw the lamp whose 
suggestive swing was the occasion of immortalizing Galileo, 
the discovery or invention of the pendulum. He was only 
eighteen years of age at the time. He also discovered the 
telescope. I could not but feel a veneration for this old lamp. 
What an age of investigation and discovery it had set in 
motion! "Patriarch of all 'pendulums." The echo by 
which the guide awakens the sweetest sounds that ever en- 
chanted the human ear may be heard in another part of 
the building. 

Pisa was one of the twelve Etruscan cities, and looks 
back into the shadowy past nearly three thousand years. 
Three hundred years ago she was a warlike republic, and 
boasted of her splendid army and navy. She had whipped 
out the Turks and Genoese in many a hard-fought battle. 
She had once a population of nearly half a million, but her 
scepter has fallen by her side, her armies melted away, her 
walls and citadels crumbled, and only the old dust-covered 
flags and her few splendid monuments remain to recall 
her ancient glory. 

We wanted to see Leghorn on the sea-shore, the sea-port 
of Pisa, noted for its hats, its hens, starch, soap, and cream 
of tartar. It has a fine harbor, and was once the pride of 
the Medici family. It is only twelve miles from Pisa. The 
only attraction to me was its hens. They never set. 

Lay on, Macduff; 

Of eggs I shall never get enough. 

We have seen no hogs', but the hills are covered with 
sheep. Near Pisa, at Cascine, there were fifteen hundred 
milk-cows and two hundred camels. 



Art Treasures of Rome. 79 

CHAPTER VII. 

Art Treasures of Rome. 

AT last the beautiful valley of the Tiber, with that his- 
toric stream still flowing on, gleamed in the distance. 
"We crossed its yellow flood; then Rome, eternal Rome! 
Once mistress of the world, I am here. 

Ah! little thought I when in school I sat, 

A school-boy on his bench at early dawn, 

Glowing with Roman story, 

I should live to tread the Appian AVay 

Of monuments, most glorious palaces; 

Toward Tiber and the City Gate 

Pour my unpretending verse. 

Can it be that Horace, Virgil, Cicero, Tacitus, and Cresar 
— authors of my school-boy sorrows — once lived here? Let 
us stop on the Corso and wander over those silent and de- 
serted hills. They rise all around me above the Campus 
Martius in silent repose. Covered with vines, fragments of 
broken columns, crumbling walls, palaces, and statues lying 
in prostrate grandeur. Imperial Rome, where is thy pow- 
er gone? 

I stand on the Capitoline Hill, and look down the valley 
on the ruins of the Forum, around which are grouped the 
most glorious remains of thy ancient splendor. All fallen 
and gone except thee, Phocas; thy solitary column rising 
in melancholy grandeur. The Temple of Concord, an arch, 
a colonnade, speak in silence of departed glory. To my 
right is a great heap of ruins once the palace of the Ccesars. 
In front are the remains of the most stupendous structure 
of ancient times. It is the Colosseum, an amphitheater built 
by Titus in the year 81 after our Saviour was born. It 
seated eighty-seven thousand people at one time. I ap- 
proached this massive ruin, and stood in the arena to con- 



80 Around the World in 1884-. 

template its awful form. The terraced seats of stone rise 
one above the other to a fearful .height all around the arena. 
The outside wall is still standing, except a portion broken 
off centuries ago. It rises one hundred and fifty-seven feet 
in height. The arena is nearly one hundred yards long 
and sixty yards broad. It is almost one-third of a mile in 
circumference. It is built on arches of stone, brick, and 
cement. Many churches and palaces have been constructed 
out of it. It was made a fortress in feudal times. Sixty 
thousand Jews, captured by Titus in Jerusalem, were em- 
ployed ten years in building it. When it was inaugurated 
it is said five thousand wild animals and ten thousand cap- 
1 tives were slain. Gladiators wrestled, and a naval combat 
was fought in the arena, which had been flooded with water 
for the occasion, until the scene became so grand Titus 
wept tears. The Colosseum is round, and open at the top. 
It is the grandest of all the Roman antiquities. To the 
right of the Arch of Titus is the excavated temple of Venus 
and Rome, whose columns strewn around told of its mag- 
nificence and grandeur. At the left of the Arch of Titus 
begins the Via Sacra, down which I drove three miles to- 
Avard the Three Taverns, the road on which Paul was 
brought a prisoner into Rome. 

What interested me very much in my rambles were the 
old aqueducts, baths, water-fountains, water-troughs of solid 
stone, and other curious relics of the past thousands of years. 
Sometimes I could see the water gushing out of an an- 
cient spout that had been placed in a new building. I no- 
ticed that the wall of the Capitol on the side overhanging 
the Forum was a part of the ancient Capitolium, the cita- 
del of Rome. New forms and changes have often been 
made, but this old wall remains. The original seven hills 
of old Rome are nearly deserted. I found nothing but 
splendid ruins, columns, and fragments of walls standing. 



Art Treasures of Home. 



81 




82 Around the World in 188%. 

The French have conducted extensive excavations here. 
The house of Marcellus, recently discovered, and the house 
of Augustus, on the Palatine, are among the grandest and 
most interesting; but the temples, baths, houses, arches, 
columns, and statues that have been brought to light 
by these excavations are innumerable. Between the an- 
cient Forum Romanum and the Capitol, already mentioned, 
is the most marvelous collection of antique remains to be 
found in the world. The Forum being the nucleus, lying 
in a little valley between the Capitoline and Palatine hills, 
Rome seems to have grouped its glorious works around it. 

I wandered on foot from this cradle of her power to the 
Pantheon, the best preserved of all the Roman antiquities. 
In simplicity and design it is a model of architectural beau- 
ty. It was built by Agrippa in the year 27, while yet our 
Saviour and his apostles were alive on earth. In those 
days the Pantheon was a pagan temple devoted, as its name 
indicates, to the worship of all the gods. By some archae- 
ologists it is supposed to have been at some time a public 
bath. I think this quite doubtful. All the opening I could 
discover was a circular aperture in the dome, which prob- 
ably afforded an escape to the burned incense below. Its 
magnificent door and portico are very impressive. They 
are ornamented with sixteen beautiful Corinthian columns 
and capitals in front. I found Raphael's tomb on the left 
of the entrance. In 1833 it was opened and a j)laster cast 
taken of his skull and hand. 

Let us descend now from these seven hills and ruins of 
ancient Rome to the Campus Martius of Pompey, Augus- 
tus, and Caesar. This plain lies at the foot of these hills, 
upon which the splendid new city of Rome has been built. 
Here the Roman generals once drilled their legions when 
Rome was the mistress of the world. Once its population 
was two millions; now it is two hundred and forty thousand. 



Art Treasures of Rome. 



The Corso is the Broadway — the great thoroughfare of busi- 
ness and pleasure. It has many pretty squares, and grand 
old columns, arches, and monuments to adorn them. 

From the Corso we cross over the yellow Tiber to the 
Vatican and St. Peter's. We pass the castle of St. Angelo, 
tomb of Hadrian, and that of Augustus. In the last build- 
ing — now a theater — were interred the most illustrious of 
Eoman celebrities. Here Augustus, Germanicus, Agrip- 
pina, Tiberius, Claudius, JSTerva, and Agrippa were buried; 
also Octavia, sister of Augustus, and Livia, his wife. The 
Scipios are buried in the Catacombs, on the Via Appia, in 
niches cut in the solid rock. Approaching St. Peter's and 
the Vatican — so near together they may be considered one 
vast building, with colonnades stretching out like great gi- 
ant arms to welcome you — Ave are impressed with their co- 
lossal grandeur and magnificence. Both these buildings 
are supposed to cover sixteen acres of ground. It seemed 
half a mile from the front to the rear, in making half 
their circumference. In front is a large plaza adorned by 
two beautiful fountains. Here, before the separation of the 
State from the Church, the Pope appeared on the front 
steps of St. Peter's during the assembling of the Ecumenic- 
al Council, when the vast plaza, packed with pilgrims from 
every land, presented one of the most imposing spectacles 
in the world. Every pilgrim bowed before his august pres- 
ence. You can see the offerings brought in the court of 
the Vatican. Every thing is so massive, so bulky, so vast 
about this church of St. Peter's we have nothing to judge 
it by. The length of all the great cathedrals is indicated 
on its marble floors. St. Peter's is twenty to thirty feet 
longer than St. Paul's. It must be nearly twice as large, 
and is four hundred and thirty-eight feet high. It is filled 
with statuary, monuments to the popes, and rare paintings. 
There is a wilderness of columns, marble and porphyry, 



84 Arouhd the World in I884. 

and twelve small pillars they say came from Solomon's Tem- 
ple. What is more extraordinary, they have some nails, a 
piece of the cross, and a few thorns. I saw a statue of some 
patron saint carved by Michael Angelo whose big toe was 
nearly kissed away. I saw St. Peter's chair, which cost one 
hundred thousand dollars to gild it. They say it requires 
fifty thousand dollars a year to keep up the repairs on this 
building. From its lofty dome we can see the seven hills 
of old Rome from St. Angelo's Castle to the Colosseum. 
We can see the Tiber winding itself away toward the sea. 
When I had walked several miles in its rotunda, down its 
solemn aisles, and through vast distances filled with col- 
umns and monuments, I grew so small I lost my identity. 
I looked up at the great square pillars that supported its 
ponderous roof — as tall as several trees piled on top of each 
other — and then I looked at the other end of the cathedral, 
and tall men had diminished into pigmies. I was conscious 
of nothing except the beggars who followed behind wanting 
to show me the remainder. It was too vast for me, so I 
tried the Vatican. 

The Vatican is the Pope's winter residence, and adjoins 
St. Peter's. It is a three-story building, with a pretty gar- 
den of orauge-trees, evergreens, and flowers in a court. It 
is four hundred yards long and three hundred yards broad. 
I am a little precise in stating the dimensions, because I de- 
sire to do it thoroughly. I walked up the Scala Regia, a 
grand flight of marble steps; saw walls of the building cov- 
ered with frescoes of Raphael and Michael Angelo — a per- 
fect panorama of Italy with its fields of grain, meadows, 
vines, trees, birds, and flowers. It was gorgeous. When I 
had reached the top of the first or second flight, I knocked 
at a door. It was opened. Here was the Sistine Chapel, 
in which the world-renowned fresco of " The Last Judgment " 
was to be seen. It covers one end of the chapel, being 



Art Treasures of Rome. 85 

thirty feet broad and sixty feet high. It is by Michael Au- 
gelo. Everybody knows that. It required seven years of 
the artist's life to make this picture. It is fading rapidly 
now; but its conceptions of the great lawgiver and the 
prophets are sublime. The subjects are taken from the Old 
Testament. The faces of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah are 
full of expression. The heads of the prophets may be seen 
all around the top of the walls; but you will be most attract- 
ed by the great fresco at the end of the hall. The Judge of 
all stands in the center of the great painting with uplifted 
hands, giving expression to the dreaded realities of the last 
day. On his right are assembling the tried and faithful, 
whose faces are radiant with joy. Below, and to the left 
are multitudes of people looking up with eager expectancy 
and hope. Thousands are departing with the most horrid 
dread of torture depicted in their faces. They are all look- 
ing back; but, "Depart ye; I know ye not." You can 
almost hear this judgment pronounced. Below I thought 
I saw a glowing hades, with millions descending into eter- 
nal torment. Satan appeared to be doing a wholesale busi- 
ness. Michael Angelo, like all great men, had his critics, 
one of whom he has particularly remembered in this great 
painting. He wears a pair of ass's ears and is among the 
lost and damned. 

I wanted to see something refreshing now — something 
that would revive me. I passed to the Court of San Dam- 
aso, and ascending another stair-way, I began to explore 
four of the most celebrated rooms of paintings in the world. 
Nearly or quite all these were painted or finished by Raph- 
ael's pupils. The last and greatest work of the immortal 
master interested me most. I stood among a multitude of 
strange people, and gazed with awe and deep emotion on 
the crowning triumph of his genius, "The Transfiguration." 
How sublime! how inexpressibly beautiful! The more Ave 



86 Around the World in 1884. 

contemplated its marvelous expressions, the more over- 
whelmed we were by its sublime conceptions. I endeav- 
ored to conceal my emotions. I looked around, and found 
nearly all these people bathed in tears. The picture im- 
presses us with the miseries of human life, its sorrows and 
woes, and that there is but one hope of relief and comfort 
for the afflicted — a hope and trust in heaven. 

Mount Tabor shines out resplendently above, while in 
the center of the painting our Saviour is represented as 
about to leave this world. Below, or about his feet, are 
prostrated three of his apostles, who have been affected by 
the divine light of his heavenly face; Moses and Elijah are 
floating about him in the air, while the other nine disciples 
stand waiting. On the other side is a vast multitude of 
people who are bringing to them a poor demoniac boy, 
whose convulsed limbs and horrid expression of torture and 
pain cause him to cry out for relief: " O what shall I do to 
be saved?" Two of the apostles point him to Jesus, whose 
face is divinely beautiful. Raphael was but thirty-seven 
years of age when he had finished this picture, and his 
spirit was called away to dwell among those he had so beau- 
tifully portrayed. Nearly all these great artists flourished 
in the sixteenth century. We wandered for hours amid 
the bewildering paintings and statues in miles of corridors. 
We had seen the great masters at home, the masterpieces of 
Raphael, Angelo, Andrea del Sarto, Tintoretto, and others ; 
we had looked upon " The Last Supper," " The Communion of 
St. Jerome," " The Dying Gladiators," " The Laocoon," " Ra- 
chel Weeping Over Her Children ;" we had seen miles of pict- 
ures and sculpture, enough frescoes to cover a small park, 
gobelin tapestry, all by hand, etc., in the Vatican and other 
places. What else ? Somebody (may be the guide-book) said 
there were over twelve thousand chambers in these different 
buildings yet to see. I thought there were about four thousand. 



Art Treasures of Rome. 87 

I had seen about five hundred, and there would still be 
three thousand five hundred to explore. I concluded life- 
was too short to do the Vatican. I leave it to posterity. 
These pictures and priceless treasures of art have been gath- 
ered together from many places since the fall of the great 
Napoleon, and placed in this historic building. I used to 
be greatly amused, traveling years ago over Europe, es- 
pecially through Holland and in Italy, to hear the guides 
remark: "Well," says Jacobus, at the Hague, "you see dis 
here Paul Potter's Bull. He wash once carried off to Paris 
to the Louvre by Napoleon. We offer the great robber-one 
hundred tousand dollar if he let him stay. After Water- 
loo we gets him back." I was once standing in front of San 
Marco, that wonderful old basilica that ornaments the plaza 
in Venice. The guide remarked, "Do you observe those 
beautiful bronze horses up dare?" "Very fine; yes." "Veil, 
dat Napoleon carried clem horses to Paris." "He did ? " "Yes ; 
but after while dey came back home." I found " The Trans- 
figuration" had made a similar pilgrimage. Napoleon was 
a great admirer of beautiful art. He never failed to col- 
lect up these gems and chefs-d'oeuvre of the masters for 
the Louvre, in his memorable campaigns over Europe. But 
after Waterloo, by treaty, they were all restored. 

They have one of the most wonderful and extensive col- 
lections of old manuscripts and books in the Vatican, but 
nobody ever sees them. They boast of a Bible that dates 
back to the fourth century. It is in manuscript, under 
lock and key. It is said St. Peter was buried on the spot 
where St. Peter's Cathedral stands. I don't believe it. It 
is more probable that Nero's circus stood here. The Bible 
gives no account of St. Peter ever having been in Rome. 

I went expressly to the Santa Maria Maggiore to see the 
five boards on which the infant Jesus was laid in the man- 
ger at Bethlehem. I was greatly disappointed — the pre 



Around the World in 188 A. 



lector did not have the key. But he would show some rao 
. saic work one thousand years old — -"Christian art. The ceil- 
ing overhead was burnished with pure gold. It was pre- 
sented by Ferdinand and Isabella, of Spain, and brought 
from South America. The tomb of Pope Pius IX. is the 
most costly and beautiful in this basilica. It is embellished 
with precious stones, lapis lazuli, and malachite. A curi- 
ous incident is related in connection with the history of this 
old church. A heavy snow-storm fell on this spot in the 
month of August in the year 352, and this splendid old 
pile was erected in commemoration of the event. It is on 
the Esquiline Hill. Outside the wall is the most imposing 
and elegant church, I think, I saw in Rome. It is located on 
the traditional spot where the apostle Paul was buried, and is 
appropriately named in his honor to commemorate the event. 
I regret I did not visit the Mamertine Prison, where the 
apostle was confined with other Christians as prisoners, 
though I was in sight of it when on Capitoline Hill. We 
did not even see Pilate's Staircase, which Luther climbed 
on his knees. But the famous Capuchin Convent is one of 
the places to visit. The monks have gathered together the 
bones of four centuries of their dead brethren from the 
crypts and catacombs of Rome with which to ornament and 
fresco their apartments. Here are skulls in one room, 
thigh-bones in another, ribs in another, and so on, deftly 
arranged in beautiful arches and towering pyramids. You 
ask these monks who did this, and they will reply, " We 
did it." They even know the names of some of their breth- 
ren who have been dead these two hundred and four hun- 
dred years, w 7 hose skulls and bones they handle and show 
you with the tenderest regard. 

There are some things about these great sculptors worth 
knowing. I visited Mr. Hiram Powers's studio during his 
life-time, and he did me many acts of kindness while I 



Art Treasures of Borne. 89 

was in Florence. He showed me, with a pair of compasses, 
how he measured the inanimate marble, the width and depth 
of the face, the angle of the nose, the mouth, ears, arms, breast, 
to secure the form and expression from the model in clay. 
After this model is once made from the artist's own concep- 
tions, it may be copied by a workman of ordinary skill by 
this system of measurements. He showed me the cast of 
the original " Greek Slave." In his studio, I saw many busts 
and faces of Clay, Webster, Calhoun, General Grant, Sher- 
man, and others. These are mere ideal conceptions, which 
may not be copied from the original. Some of the finest 
figures are the copies of no one original. It sometimes re- 
quires twenty to fifty female forms to secure a perfect model. 
One girl furnishes an arm, another a bust, another a mouth, 
a brow, lips, chin, and a seventh a foot, until the perfect 
ideal of woman's beauty is secured. There are pretty girls 
in all these great art centers who sit for models. It has some- 
times required even a hundred to get the artist's perfect 
ideal form. After all, the great sculptor must be a genius. 
He does but little work outside of embodying his grand 
conceptions in a form of plaster or clay. 

It is seven hours to Naples. We cannot describe the 
route of travel, its scenery or its beauty. It was night. 
We saw nothing except a noisy operatic troupe — a lot of 
boisterous Italians. Early the following morning I discov- 
ered we were approaching Naples. There was a heavy 
frost settled on the market-gardens and the meadows around 
the city. It was the 23d of February. In the distance I 
saw Mount Vesuvius sending up a great cloud of smoke 
which ascended slowly and bore away before a gentle wind. 
I saw enough at the railroad station of rags, poverty, filth, 
and dirt, of donkeys, old horses, goats, cabs, dogs, scream- 
ing cabmen, insolent urchins, lazzaroni, vagabonds, and 
guides, to "see Naples and die." It took the romance 



90 Around the World in 1884. 

square out of me. I had pictured a fairy-land with blos- 
soms, perfumes, roses, and skies that would bewilder my 
senses. I made one discovery — that Naples must be a civ- 
ilized community, if we were to judge by her cheeky cab- 
men. For brazen effrontery the New York hackman would 
be shamed out of existence. I started for Hotel Metropole, 
at the upper end of the great strada, located at the foot of 
the mountains, which commanded a grand view of Vesuvius 
across the Bay of Naples. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Naples — Vesuvius — Pompeii. 

I AM perfectly charmed with my hotel. My window, in 
the second story, looks out on a gorgeous scene of beau- 
ty — the city, the bay, and Vesuvius, all in one grand pano- 
rama. But I can get no soap. I have shouted, screamed, 
and pulled the bell-line for soap. I have been similarly 
embarrassed in other places; but I thought Naples ought 
to be a soap-factory. The woman rushed up after some 
time, and thought I was crazy. She finally brought me a 
small piece (sent down town after it, quite probably), and 
then charged me a franc or half franc for it. It was French 
soap, I suppose ; it took French to get it. There is another 
serious impediment to travel in Italy; it is the bougie. I 
was nearly a week finding out what this meant on my bills. 
It appeared quite often, and at extravagant prices. It must 
be some aristocratic dish ; but it turned out to be a tallow- 
candle. I then determined on plenty of bougies and savon, 
but it did no good ; they kept charging them on the bills 
just the same. In Naples they charge for everything they 
can think of. If you owe them nothing, they make out a 
bill anyhow. This morning I took a drive in my car- 
riage down the strada, along the beautiful bay. A fine- 



Najyles — Vesuvius — Pompeii. 91 

looking gentleman got in at the same time. He spoke En- 
glish, began to gesticulate and show me the king's palace, 
the booking-office of the Salerno railroad to Vesuvius, 
etc. He Avas a guide. It would have insulted an Ameri- 
can gentleman to offer compensation for such courtesy as 
that ; but when I handed him some money, he rather felt 
as if I ought to have paid more. But these vagabonds, 
these street gamins and lazzaroni of Naples, if you look at 
one, he wants to charge for it. You cannot get out of your 
carriage, but he rushes to open the door — five cents; 
" Fine morning, signor " — more money ; " Mt. Vesuve " — 
two cents. He wants to take off your duster, black your 
shoes over, brush your hat; and if you lay down your pack- 
age to rest, he seizes that and hands it to you for another 
small consideration. Formerly, I learn, they used to bar- 
ricade the streets with their donkeys when they saw a for- 
eigner coming, or cut off his retreat, if he fell back ; but 
they have quit that now — too many foreigners coming to 
Naples. They have street-cars, cabs, and all kinds of con- 
veyances, to get about. Last night I paid a conductor a 
ten-shilling gold-piece, through mistake. He handed me 
the change in coppers for ten cents. I walk now, unless I 
have the proper fare. The bay is in the shape of a horse- 
shoe. At the upper end is the city, with a half million in- 
habitants, which extends nearly all around. Except the 
strada, or bay street, the streets are generally very narrow, 
and the houses, like those of Genoa, very tall. They are 
built of brick and stone, often stuccoed and covered with 
red tile. The city extends back from the bay half a mile 
or more to the foot of lofty mountains. These are terraced 
to their very summits, two or three thousand feet high, I 
suppose. On these beautiful terraces are the villas of the 
nobility and the wealthy. The women are proud even 
when poor. " They bestow a great deal of attention on 



92 



Around ilie World in 1SSJ. 




Naj)les — Vesuvius — Pompeii. 93 

their personal charms, to captivate the opposite sex." So 
my guide-book says; it ought to know. They promenade 
on their own house-tops, which are flat and adorned with 
beautiful shrubs and flowers. They have black eyes, ra- 
ven tresses, and are nearly all brunettes. They are often 
too full in figure; but many are charmingly beautiful, and 
make good wives, I presume. They are fond of driving out 
of pretty evenings, gossip, etc. Above all these lovely villas 
and terraced gardens rise the embattled walls of St. Elmo 
Castle. You can drive or walk nearly up to this old castle. 
Ou one side, you can ride on donkeys up a flight of stone 
steps a mile high ; on the other, next to the sea, we drove 
down in a carriage. An Englishman and I looked down 
from these lofty heights on Naples below our feet, its placid 
bay nestled in a cove; Capri and Ischia in the distance, 
rising out of the sea ; Torre del Greco and Sorrento down 
its lovely shores ; and seven miles back of Torre del Greco 
and Pompeii rose Vesuvius in majestic beauty from a level 
plain. The city is built of lava -stone; its streets are 
paved with it, and beautiful jewelry adorning the shop 
windows are made out of this indestructible material. Some 
of the finest stores near my hotel — in truth, whole streets — • 
are devoted to the manufacture and sale of coral. The 
plate-glass windows are ablaze with the loveliest necklaces, 
bracelets, and crosses. The pale coral is the most costly of 
all the shades and colors. Then the cameos are just lovely. 
You can see the workmen in the rear of nearly all these 
shops, making these beautiful works of art. Every day I 
walked miles along these crowded streets just to study the 
character of the Neapolitans. On every street is a repe- 
tition of Broadway, New York. I never saw such bus- 
tling, hurrying, and struggling throngs of humanity. There 
are no sidewalks ; and if there were, the people would all 
walk in the middle of the street. When thev are wide 



94 Around the World in I884. 

enough, there appear as many vehicles as there are pedes- 
trians. It is a mystery to me why the morning papers do 
not record a thousand accidents a day. The houses they 
live in are another wonder. You look five, six, seven, and 
eight stories high, it seems, and you see a little iron railing 
in front of every window up to where the roof is. " There 
is somebody always looking out nearly every window " — 
these pigeon-holes. When you look up these narrow 
streets, the rows of houses are so long and so tall " they 
resemble a railroad-track coming together in the distance." 
They stretch lines across the streets, on which to hang their 
tattered rags. Then you see white-robed women looking 
out these balcony railings from the bottom to the topmost 
floor. You will see all this and a great deal more if you 
go to Naples. You will see SAvarms of ragged children 
crowded in the door, with unwashed faces and uncombed 
hair, looking like scarecrows. You will see their chick- 
ens, donkeys, and goats — which sleep with them — coming 
out of the same door, or standing about, early in the morn- 
ing. The goats are driven from door to door and milked 
in a tiny cup. The milk is then sold — one of the few honest 
transactions that occur in Naples. But the most curious 
sight yet is to see these people eating macaroni. They 
live on macaroni. It is cooked along the streets, thrown 
up to cool, then served by hand, with a little tomato sauce 
dashed on. Two meals a day of these long quills — exactly 
two cents worth — keeps an Italian alive. Then it is more 
amusing to see an Italian eat it. Sometimes it is one to two 
feet long. He keeps roping it in until it is all gone. A 
fruit-merchant carries his little basket along the streets, 
cries his grapes and oranges all day, and twice a day he 
will sit down himself and eat a bunch of grapes and piece 
of bread. He seems perfectly happy. I have been trying 
to reconcile all this magnificence and luxury of Naples 



Naples — Vesuvius — Pompeii. 95 

with all the vice and poverty I have seen. I cannot do it. 
You see the dukes and bankers, in their sumptuous car- 
riages, with footmen in livery, dashing down the Chiaja. 
Then you will observe a donkey, not larger than a dog, in 
a go-cart with its proprietor. He too is splurging down 
the Chiaja. The donkeys appear to be as happy as their 
titled owners. I saw one the other day making his din- 
ner absolutely on one cabbage-head. It is hard to tell 
who is the happier, the donkey or his bloated, aristocratic 
master. 

Naples is a very ancient city; first settled by the Greeks; 
was famous for its baths and its theaters, its matchless 
scenery and the mildness of its climate, long before the apos- 
tle Paul landed at Puteoli. According to Cicero, it was a 
licentious place. Tacitus states that Nero selected Naples 
for his appearance on the stage. Here the wealthy assem- 
bled. It was a great seat of pleasure and voluptuous en- 
joyment during Cresar's time. Ovid and Virgil sung its 
charms. It boasts of three hundred churches now, and 
ought to be a very pious city ; but it is not. They named 
the churches here, like they did in Rome, after the madon- 
nas, St. Peter, and Mary. I have not found the first 
church dedicated to the Holy Ghost or our blessed Re- 
deemer. In the Madonna dell' Arco — seven miles from 
here — they sing and dance the tarantella. "What that is I 
do not know ; but I do know the dominion of the Madonna 
is universal in Naples; everybody venerates her. 

They have a cemetery here called " Campo Santo Vec- 
chio," which consists of three hundred and sixty-five cells. 
Every morning one is opened to receive the dead of the 
previous day, which are just dropped in, covered up, and 
cemented for a year ; the next morning another is opened, 
and so on throughout the year. They do not go much on 
style here, like they do in Paris. 



96 Around the World in 1884. 

The Museo Fernando contains the frescoes and Pmnpeian 
antiquities and the rich treasures of art exhumed at Her- 
culaneum. There are four rooms, containing sixteen hun- 
dred different objects. The sacrifice of Iphigenia pleading 
to her father, who turns away to hide his grief; the figure 
of Diana in the clouds; Hercules killing the lion, etc., are 
among the most beautiful and touching representations in 
this rich collection. The mosaics are equally as grand as 
works of art. There are four thousand specimens of an- 
cient glass and terra cotta in another room. There is the 
secret cabinet, in which no lady is admitted. Those old 
Pompeians were a wicked people. I saw numbers of little 
lachrymal bottles, which they placed to their eyes to re- 
lieve their overburdened hearts with. They had scales, 
balances, weights, lounges, chairs, furniture, bowls, pitch- 
ers, cups, jewelry, watch-chains, charms — even many of the 
cooking-utensils, implements, and tools we see nowadays. 

The Lost City of Pompeii. 
They pronounce it here Pom-pay-e. It is the greatest 
wonder of all the Roman antiquities. It fills every trav- 
eler who beholds it with astonishment. We take the Cas- 
tellamare railroad down the bay, pass Terre del Greco, 
and in a few minutes arrive at our station. It is about 
twelve or fifteen miles from Naples, and close to the sea- 
shore. We walk a few hundred yards and enter the Sea 
Gate. We have a guide furnished free to do the tenantless 
houses and deserted streets. This is very thoughtful on the 
part of the Government; but when we are expected to pur- 
chase before departing twenty dollars worth of souvenirs — 
principally pictures of the departed city — I say this Gov- 
ernment needs watching. But it is well worth the trouble 
for the seeing. It is a most curious sight. Pompeii was 
overwhelmed by ashes and cinders from the extinct cone of 



Naples — Vesuvius — Pompeii. 



97 




98 Around the World in 188£. 

Somraa, on Mt. Vesuvius, in the year 79. It Liy buried for 
one thousand six hundred years, buried from forty to one 
hundred feet deep. In 1748 it was accidently discovered 
by some peasant cutting a ditch. Since that date the ex- 
humation has been going on, and I saw a number of men 
still at work removing the debris, and bringing to light new 
houses, new treasures, and more streets. 

Wc ascended a narrow street from the Sea .Gate, and be- 
fore us stood on either side long rows of roofless houses, solid 
brick, just as they stood one thousand eight hundred years 
ago. As we walk up one street and down another, we nat- 
urally look for the inhabitants to come out of their doors and 
say good-morning. Here lie scattered in profusion broken 
pillars, door-ways that are doorless, broken arches and col- 
umns, walls, and roofless houses whose clean-swept floors 
display a wealth of mosaics in pictured birds, animals, and 
flowers that have remained imperishable till this day. We 
walk on narrow sidewalks, and cross from one corner to 
the other on stepping-stones, just as the Pompeians did when 
the streets were muddy. We see the chariot-wheels' deep 
ruts still in the pavod streets of lava, and even the foot- 
prints of by-gone ages. Here are the bake-shops, the wine- 
jars, the baths, the theaters, the temples, the halls of justice, 
that are suggestive of wealth and opulence among a great 
people. Here are the saloons and bed-chambers, frescoed 
with beautiful allegories representing Adonis, Venus, and 
Bacchus falling in love and reveling over their wine-cups. 
Every thing is so life-like, so natural, except the want of a 
population, who seem to have left just a few days before. 
Our guide shows the house of Sallust, the tragic poet, the 
temple of Venus, and on the top of a hill the ruins of a 
Roman forum with its temples, porticos, and curse, once a 
most imposing structure. 

In many private houses I could distinguish the bed-rooms, 



Naples — Vesuvius — Pompeii. 99 

a 

diaing-halls, servants'-rooms, and kitchen, and many ele- 
gantly fitted apartments, with water- works and hydrants. 
They had private as well. as public baths, with pipes for hot 
and cold water. I saw them. At the "Marine Gate Mi- 
nerva is still keeping her tireless watch over the destinies 
of the city she could not save." In the forum of justice I 
saw beautiful Ionic and Corinthian columns scattered up 
and down the long colonnade of dismembered pillars. Here 
were the seats of the judges, and behind them the dungeons 
in which the prisoners wfcre once confined. 

I saw the ruins of an amphitheater older than the Col- 
osseum at Rome. The seats of a Greek theater were in a 
good state of preservation, being circular and built of stone. 
There were subterranean passages, through which the pleas- 
ure-loving people could enter these theaters from the sea. 
Some of the houses in Pompeii have temporary roofs thrown 
over them, and are under lock and key. They contain fres- 
coes on the wall similar to those transferred from here to the 
secret chamber in the Fernando Museum. The names were 
found carved on many of the thoroughfares, such as " Mer- 
chants' Street" and the "Street of Fortune." In this way 
many elegant private residences, with floors of mosaic and 
marble and walls richly frescoed, were identified. 

But Pompeii is no longer a buried city. In its hundreds 
of roofless houses, with its tangled maze of streets running up 
and down and over many hills, one might easily get lost 
without a guide. The city has six gates by which it was 
entered, and a wall twenty feet in diameter and quite as 
high. No trace of the wall is found next to the sea, but 
the excavations extend to the northern and western walls 
of the city, I believe. I stood on the parapet and looked 
down the "Street of Tombs," which recalls the ancient 
splendors of the Appian Way. 

What a melancholy spectacle must have been presented 



100 



Around the World in 188J+. 



on that memorable November night, when that cloud of 
cinders and hot ashes rained down on the doomed city! It 
scorned that I could almost hear the heart-rending cries for 
aid from mother, father, sister, and brother, as they fled in 
dismay from the impending death and destruction. Mothers 
with infants in their arms, and their children gathering 
about them for protection, must have awakened the " deep- 
est sympathies in the human heart." As I stand gazing on 
that same mountain, only seven miles distant, which over- 
Avhelmed this city in ruin, and which Pliny the younger 
beheld with horror trying to save the life of his poor 
mother, I must confess to a feeling of awe in its presence. 
It is the only active volcano I ever saw. Some day it may 
overwhelm Naples, as on frequent occasions its cinders and 
ashes have fallen several inches deep in that city. As we 
returned, we saw in a museum outside the Sea Gate many 
interesting objects exhumed in the excavations. The fol- 
lowing illustration of two petrified bodies, showing the po- 
sition in Avhich they were found, is very correct. You per- 




PETRIFIED BODIES. 



Naples — Vesuvius — Pompeii. 101 

ceive one is that of a woman having fallen on her face. By 
some chemical process the natural expression of their faces 
has been restored. Many cooking-utensils, loaves of bread, 
eggs, and other articles, are preserved in glass cases in this 
museum. I noticed the skeleton of a dog " whose very howl 
seemed petrified." 

As I returned to Naples at night I saw Vesuvius sending 
up flashes of flame that cast a lurid light on her awful brow. 
I asked an Englishwoman who is living here if she was not 
afraid of sharing the fate of Pompeii. " O no," she replied ; 
" as long as that crater is active we are safe. Why, Ve- 
suvius is our great safety-valve." And she was right. 

The more I see of these Neapolitans the more I am per- 
suaded they are copying in their lives the same habits and 
customs, the same vices and sins, the Pompeians had. They 
have the same kind of little shops, utensils, bed-rooms, chick- 
ens and dogs about their doors. I think they copy their 
morals, too, from their deceased ancestors. They grind their 
wheat in little mills with the baker's shop next door, just 
the same as the Pompeians did; but they have no baths 
and no soaj). Some day they may fly, as the Pompeians 
fled, with their money-bags, looking back on their impend- 
ing doom. Some will be found sitting up against a pillar 
or post, or squatted with their household pets about the 
door. The bulk of them will be found eating macaroni or 
trying to swindle some foreigner out of ten shillings. But 
1 do n't think their money-bags will offer any obstructions 
to their flight. Alas for these Neapolitans! I don't like 
them much "nohow." 

Ascent of Vesuvius. 
They have a railroad running up nearly to the summit of 
Vesuvius now, by which it can be easily reached from the 
plain below. I had for my companion a Russian ship- 
master, who was on his way, or returning, from Catania, 



102 Around the World in 188 4. 

Sicily, with a load of sulphur. He spoke very good En- 
glish, and nearly all his conversation in this language with 
me was about the English people, the English Government, 
the inevitable war, etc. I think he cherished sulphurous 
designs, evidently, from the manifest of his cargo. We pro- 
cured tickets at the office of the Salerno railroad sta- 
tion early one morning in Naples — twenty-five francs — to 
the summit of Vesuvius and return. It is about twelve to 
fifteen miles, and nearly all this distance must be made by 
a coach, or carriage, through the city, across the Campagna, 
and then by steep, winding roads up to the plain, two thou- 
sand feet high, from which the two lofty peaks of Vesuvius 
shoot up. One of these peaks, the one that overwhelmed 
Pompeii and Herculaneum, is extinct; the other, or one 
nearest to us, is active. These peaks, which rise from the 
elevated plain, appear almost perpendicular, and must be 
nearly a mile high. This is the part the railroad runs up. 
As soon as we had traversed the distance through the city 
we came in full view of the volcano. Below it, on its steep 
sides and gentle slopes, as far as we could see all around, 
were vast fields of black scoria?, an ocean of lava, which 
seemed to have rolled and tumbled in the wildest confusion 
and unutterable chaos. In its reckless flow it appears each 
successive eruption "had piled up in billowy waves black 
and wrinkled and knotted masses that assumed a thousand 
weird and fantastic shapes, mimicking roots, gnarls, trunks, 
and branches of trees" that had rolled up together. Over 
this blackened field of death and ruin the petrified lava 
had assumed different shades and colors. Some was brown, 
some coal-black, and other parts shaded off in chrome, slate, 
etc. I was told it required ten years for this lava thrown 
out of the crater to cool. When we had gone across the 
little valley, or Campagna, that lay between the city and 
the foot of the lava-fields, we began a gradual ascent up a 



Naples — Vesuvius — Pompeii. 103 

winding road all laid -with lava, and on either side fenced 
with blocks of lava-stone. Where the lava had been re- 
moved, gardens, little fields, and orchards of figs, pomegran- 
ates, peaches, almonds, oranges, lemons, "were growing in 
great profusion, planted in rows. Between the trees I saw 
cabbages, beans, lettuce, pease, and other vegetables, grow- 
ing. The soil was disintegrated »lava, black and friable, 
as rich as the guano-beds of Peru. The Lachrymae Christi 
wine is made here. Up, up, by a gradual ascent, we keep 
winding until we come to a gate. Now the houses and gar- 
dens begin to disappear, and the city, with its matchless bay, 
appears far below us. What a panorama of life and death, 
of hope and despair, lies behind and before us! In the 
deepest study and contemplation in awe of all this grandeur 
and beauty, suddenly a band of music struck up a perfect 
" daisy " of an air on the road-side. As we approached very 
near, three men rose and bowed, with flutes, guitar, and 
tambourine — I don't remember — then walked in front sere- 
nading us, then they fell behind and serenaded us, then they 
advanced on the side of our carriage with hats off and ser- 
enaded us. After we paid off' the band and discharged our 
music, and were beginning to reassume a meditative mood, 
up ran a great stalwart vagabond with a bunch of flowers 
in hand. If it had been decoration-day in Georgia I vent- 
ure the assertion this fellow could have furnished flowers 
for all the soldiers' graves. The captain and I ascended to 
Vesuvius amid a procession of music and blossoms that 
would have honored no ordinary occasion. It was a very 
unexpected ovation, however, and very tin premeditated on 
our part. We had now ascended two thousand feet up to 
the railroad station, three miles above the Campagna below, 
from which shot up the cone, with its little railroad. Here 
was an elegant little hotel, charges very high, the station 
with its waiting-rooms, passengers loitering about the en- 



104 Around the World in 1884. 

gine examining the machinery, and other curious spectators 
looking nearly perpendicularly up the track at a little car 
descending. It seemed to feel its way quietly and cautiously 
down, down a thousand feet or more off the summit of 
Mount Vesuvius. There were several people in there half 
frightened to death, it appeared — holding on, all the way, 
afraid the cable ropes would break, and then they would be 
pitched head foremost down into unutterable woe and eter- 
nity. It did look rather reckless to attempt that aerial 
-voyage. But then the road had been in operation several 
years with no accident or loss, and this in itself was some 
consolation. I noticed the people who jumped out of this 
little street-car when it had descended. There was a sense 
of consciousness which found expression in their faces that 
was truly marvelous. Every one seemed satisfied, abso- 
lutely overwhelmed with its grandeur; but they would 
never make that ascent again. 

The road-bed consisted of a single rail, or track — or rather 
two rails, or double tracks — on which were drawn up and 
down by powerful cable ropes two little cars, one going up 
while the other descended. Each car was balanced by these 
cables, one on either side underneath. A powerful engine 
below moved the cars up and down, attached to these ca- 
bles, which worked around a turn-table above. The cars, 
being balanced and firmly held by these cables, were moved 
along by a convex wheel which worked in the center un- 
derneath, hugging either side of the single rail. The car 
coming down helps to draw the other up. You perceive at 
once the economy of power in this momentum. The prin- 
ciple is purely American, and if I am not mistaken I saw 
this model at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876. The 
road-bed is laid in lava-stone, solid. As a financial venture 
it has been a success. I asked one of the officials if he was 
not afraid of being overwhelmed. "O no," he said; "we 



Naples — Ves u vius — Pompeii. 105 

don't mind that. The road has paid for itself." Several 
of the passengers did not attempt it, If we do n't hold on 
we all slide clown in a pile together. In fifteen minutes we 
are up, and then we fiud we have three or four hundred 
yards to climb through smoke and clouds on burning-hot 
ground underneath us. The first consideration is to con- 
tract with the guide. They are all here, and will ask 
twenty prices; and if they could get what they asked, they 
would "grieve the remainder of their days that they did not 
ask more. A number of times we had to stop and rest 
after leaving the station. A winding path is walled in, 
almost perpendicular; but we cut across, like the people 
did in Pompeii, to save distance. We could see nothing 
except the guide and a few yards around us. If we wanted 
to see our comrades ahead, we looked up; if we wanted to 
see who was coming behind, we looked below. At last we 
stood, or rather walked, on the summit. It was burning- 
hot under my soles. You could roast an egg or light your 
cigar at the crevices or fissures in the rocks. There were 
sulphurous gases and smoke issuing out of all these places, 
and one time I came near stumbling in a hole large enough 
to alarm me. I got down and heard it roaring underneath. 
I was satisfied. Then I gathered up specimens of the most 
beautifully tinted colors — sulphur-coated rocks, red, black, 
yellow, blue, brown, and white. Such a combination of 
colors, such magnificence, as shone resplendent on Vesu- 
vius's jeweled brow! We crept along over this burning 
volcano behind the guide until we reached the crater. He 
punched off a piece of it with his walking-stick. We stood 
afar off and bent our necks trying to look over. It was a 
dark, bottomless-looking chasm — a pit, a gulf, from which 
issued clouds of sulphurous smoke. We held our nostrils, 
then our breath, then we departed. It is several hundred 
yards across the crater, and may be farther. There was an 



106 Around the World in I8S4. 

indescribable pandemonium of unnatural sounds, deafen- 
ing, uproarious noises, below. It roared like distant artil- 
lery. The lava was flowing out on the opposite side, the 
lower side, the guide said. To prove this he said that boy 
(there were several following us) would take a copper cent, 
if I had one, and in a few minutes he would bring it back 
iucased in red-hot lava. What a souvenir! "Name your 
price." " O signer ; poor boy very hungry [placing his hand 
on his dinner-box] ; about twenty franc, say." " He will get 
a half dollar if he comes back ; if he falls in, I will give 
you more." Off he went, running around the brink of the 
crater, and soon disappeared in impenetrable darkness. 

Returning. 
I believe we could have descended that mountain in ten 
minutes. Every step with prodigious strides we plowed 
our way down through loose ashes nearly knee-deep. Pres- 
ently we reached the railroad station, and just as we were 
about to embark for below that little vagabond came run- 
ning with the piece of lava he had jerked out of the mouth 
of Vesuvius. That 's twice I score an Italian for honesty — 
the man who milked the goats and this boy who cheated 
Vesuvius out of its just deserts. This volcano has erupted 
forty-five times since the destruction of Pompeii and Her- 
culaneum in 79. I believe that. In 1777, the guide-book 
further states, a liquid column resembling a flame of fire 
was thrown up ten thousand feet, and the as"hes and 
cinders were blown over, or fell, on Alexandria, Egypt, 
perhaps, and Constantinople, Turkey. I do n't believe that. 
It further states that " eighty-two different species of min- 
erals have been discovered in the vicinity of Vesuvius." I 
think the man at the hotel below must have had them all, 
more or less. We enjoyed an enraptured view of the bay 
and city half-way down the Salerno railroad, but the 
summit was enveloped in mist and a cloud of smoke. From 



Naples — Vesuvius — Pompeii. 107 

three thousand feet we had soon descended on Naples along 
the sea-ehore. 

Sorrento, Capri, the Biaje Grotto, and Ischia. 

Never did a more lovely morning dawn than on the sixth 
of March, when we started down the Bay of Naples on the 
most delightful excursion imaginable. The sun rose over 
the Apennines in gorgeous splendor, bathing the city and 
its hills above in a flood of golden light. We passed down 
under the gi*eat shadow of Mount Vesuvius, gliding by Sor- 
rento with the air perfumed with orange-blossoms and the 
city looking out from its mountain home enveloped in a 
wealth of foliage. The house of Tasso is pointed out. In 
poesy and song, Sorrento, thy name will live immortal. 
Here are terraced gardens rising above each other — gar- 
dens of oranges, pomegranates, grapes, and figs. You can 
climb up terraced walks and Avinding roads, inclosed by tall 
stone walls, to the very summits of these mountains. 

Around our boat are little boys clapping their hands and 
singing songs. If you throw a dime in the crystal waters 
below, every boy leaps from his boat in eager pursuit. 
Presently one comes swimming to his boat with the gilded 
prize, clapping his hands. He sings for more. Twenty 
miles down the bay we reach Capri, a beautiful island of 
rock rising out of the sea. It was a favorite resort of the Em- 
peror Tiberius, whose crumbling palace lies in stately ruins. 
It is no less famous for its orange-groves, vines, pomegran- 
ates, and figs than for its matchless wonder, the Blue Grot- 
to- The entrance to the cave is on the perpendicular side 
of a high cliff — an abrupt sea-wall. Our steamer stops a 
short distance off, and we descend into small row-boats 
manned by experienced boatmen. They row us rapidly to- 
ward this wall, and, waiting for the lowest wave, shoot us 
into a hole four feet wide and four feet high. I laid flat on 



108 Around the World in 1884 

my back. It is a tight squeeze at that. When the tide is 
up, you cauuot enter at all. Now once in, we behold an 
arched cavern, about one hundred and fifty feet long, one 
hundred feet wide, and seventy-five feet high. The depth 
of it nobody knows; it is as deep as the ocean. You can- 
not conceive of any object as bright, as lovely, as blue as 
this little grotto. The brightest tint of an Italian sky would 
pale before its transparent luster. A man jumps overboard, 
and his body becomes an azure blue. Our oars, with which 
we glide about in the cavern, are tinted with azure and 
burnished as with the brightest silver. 

Returning, we stopped at the town of Capri, located mid- 
way of the island on its very summit. We reach the pub- 
lic square by a flight of terraced steps, with a scene of trop- 
ical grandeur and beauty below me and a view of the Med- 
iterranean from both sides of the town perfectly grand. 
The orange-trees, planted eight by ten, are protected by high 
walls ; and in winter, when frost falls, the people cover the 
trees over with matting. 

On the left we behold Ischia in ruins, her walls tumbled 
down, and houses roofless. Here three thousand people per- 
ished last year from the shock of an earthquake. The peo- 
ple were crushed to death by the falling houses in their 
fright and frantic efforts to escape by their boats to sea. 
Ischia, once a beautiful island, is full of sadness and mourn- 
ing now. 

There are many other interesting spots in and around 
Naples. I went out to Virgil's tomb, at the entrance to 
the grotto of Posilippo. I passed through the tunnel cut 
by the ancient Romans for a drive down the coast to Baia?, 
the Temple of Serapis, Lake Agnano, with a portion of the 
ancient city still visible above its waters. Here Horace, 
Cicero, and Virgil dwelt. , The hot baths of Baise have 
been celebrated in their verses. The voluptuousness of the 



From Naples to Messina, Sicily. 100 

women and their depravity in those days, if we are to credit 
Cicero, were sufficient to provoke the wrath of Vesuvius 
upon their heads. And there is Procida and Pozzuoli, 
where St. Paul landed after he sailed from the island of 
Samos. Near here a mountain rose up in one night. Pliny 
wrote about the poisonous vapors of Grotto del Cane. 
Hold a dog or chicken there, and it kills either almost in- 
stantly. We could not make the experiment. We had 
good reasons for not doing it. " But it is said the dogs are 
so in the habit of dying they don't mind it at all." 

Naples has a beautiful garden, through which we pass on 
our return, in which there is the finest aquarium in all Eu- 
rope. The water is turned into glass domes from the sea. 
Here I saw the skate-fish, that cuts with its tail; the squid, 
that moves backward ; the water-spider, the cuttle-fish, lob- 
ster, dog-fish, octopus, eels, etc. There are two natural won- 
ders in this exhibition that excite the greatest interest. One 
is the hermit crab, that hides in other shells except its own, 
and the little sea-horse, with head and ears precisely similar 
to that animal. But most beautiful of all the wonders in 
this aquarium are the coral insects at work. They work in 
many colors, the pink, yellow, and white predominating. 
These are the little stone-masons that construct deep down 
in the sea the most dangerous reefs along the mariner's path- 
way. 

CHAPTER IX. 

From Naples to Messina, Sicily. 

THE sun was setting on the Bay of Naples, and gilding 
its glorious heights with his departing rays as our hand- 
some little ship, of the Rubitiuo line, steamed down amidst 
a wilderness of shipping and studding sail. As the length- 
ening shadows drew the curtain over the departing day. 1 



110 Around the World in 188 '4. 

sat under the magic spell of enchantment that seemed to 
inthrall me, watching St. Elmo with its embattled heights, 
and Naples thousands of feet below, until its towers and 
cathedral spires had faded on the gorgeous view. The moon 
and stars succeeded the day in radiant splendor, reflecting 
the dim outlines of Vesuvius in our rear, and the shadows 
of Ischia on our right in its sleepless hush of death. Next 
appeared the matchless Isle of Capri rising out of the sea with 
its rugged, overhanging cliffs, whose great shadows darkened 
our bow as we glided through it on our way south to the 
beautiful Isle of Sicily. 

We had for compagnons de voyage an old gentleman and 
his pretty young wife — San Franciscans — on a three-years 
voyage around the world. It was a delightful meeting, a 
meeting of kindred tongues and languages. But we were 
to part at Messina, perhaps never to meet again. They 
were bound for Constantinople and the Black Sea; I still 
farther south — to Malta and Alexandria, Egypt. Early in 
the morning we saw the city of Messina gleaming in the 
distance. Its milk-white houses and lofty spires rose along 
the water's edge. In the rear were the grandest mountains 
terraced nearly to their summits, a bewildering panorama 
of lemon-gardens that rose above each other in peerless 
grandeur. From their luxuriant foliage peeped out many 
a pretty villa. To our left, as we entered its matchless har- 
bor, I gazed upon the snow-capped mountains of Calabria, 
whose sloping sides near the sea were terraced in orange- 
groves. The mountains on the opposite side presented a 
similar spectacle of luscious fruits, fragrant flowers and 
bloom. Here was a fairy scene, a region that seemed to 
have been dropped out of heaven. 

From Naples to Messina is one hundred and sixty miles. 
We anchor in the harbor, and take a small boat for the 
shore. I see an American man-of-war flying the stars and 




I 



'."I 1 I 

III 






From Naples to Messina, Sicily. Ill 

stripes. It is the " Kearsarge," which, twenty years ago, ofl 
Cherbourg, France, engaged that dauntless hero, Captain 
Semmes, of the "Alabama," in a death-struggle. The combat 
lasted one hour and fifteen minutes. The "Alabama" was a 
wooden ship. Captain Semmes supposed he was fighting a 
wooden ship ; but it was proved the "Kearsarge " had let down 
chains on her sides, which gave her a plated armor. With 
superior armament and more men, however, the " Kearsarge" 
was badly crippled. Captain Semmes lost ten men by drown- 
ing whom Captain Winslow could have saved; but he was 
afraid to approach the "Alabama," although he saw she was 
going down. Captain Semmes and many of his officers — 
among the number our gallant Georgian, Lieutenant Kell — 
were saved by the English steam-yacht, the "Deer-hound." 
But the once hostile foe is our ship now, and that is our flag. 

We walk along the wide, clean quays, charmed with the 
beauty of Messina, its bustle and trade. We see many 
ships loading here for Dundee (Scotland), Liverpool, New 
York, and other ports, with oranges, lemons, orange-peel, 
pickled oranges and lemons, to be manufactured into mar- 
malade and citric acid. Thousands of little boxes — just the 
same that we see at home — are being hauled and loaded for 
distant ports. That ubiquitous little animal, the donkey, 
has hauled his last load, and is eating his dinner; but it is 
fruit instead of cabbages this time. These animals are fed 
on the peel. This and Palermo are the great fruit-markets, 
as New Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston, in the South, 
are our great cotton ports. Oranges are grown mostly on 
the Italian side of the strait, in Calabria, while lemons are 
more extensively cultivated in Sicily; but, being shipped 
from Messina, they are known by that name, as coffee as- 
sumes the name of Rio, the port in Brazil from which it is 
exported. 

My object in making this detour from the usual route by 



112 Around the World in I884. 

Brindisi to the East was to gather facts from j^ersonal ob- 
servation in Sicily and Malta concerning the cultivation and 
production of tropical fruits that belong to the citrus fam- 
ily. Oranges and lemons must have been introduced here 
from the East long before the discovery of America. From 
here the seed was distributed along the Mediterranean coast 
toward the south-west as far as Spain. The species — a sour 
variety known as bigarade — when it reached Spain was 
called Seville. It is probable the Spaniards carried the 
seed from Spain to Florida, where it was scattered along its 
coast and lakes on the rich hummock lands by the Indians, 
which supposition may account for the wild groves found 
in that State. The sweet orange does not appear to have 
been known in Europe at this time. It was about the year 
1600 when the sweet orange appeared here ; and from here 
it traveled in the same direction the sour variety had 
taken. 

This beautiful island has been converted into a tropical 
garden, with almost every known variety of fruit growing 
to perfection. Of course there are many of these adapted 
to cultivation which are not cultivated. The oranges and 
lemons, proving more profitable, have supplanted them ; and 
lemons, being given preference, have nearly superseded or- 
ange culture in Sicily. As the planting, cultivation, ma- 
nuring, etc., are the same, however, my remarks will apply 
to one as well as the other. The most of the oranges ex- 
ported from Messina are grown on the Italian side of the 
narrow strait that divides the island from the main-land, as 
I have already stated. The following valuable information, 
was given me by my bankers in Messina, Messrs. Callier & 
Bro., who are practical fruit-growers themselves near this 
charming city. They first reviewed the history of orange 
culture for the past fifteen years : the overproduction, de- 
cline in prices, neglect of the groves, irrigation, gum dis- 



From Naples to Messina, Sicily. 113 

case, charbon, etc., and the remedies for the same; then the 
cost of gathering, packing, boxing, and shipping, the mode 
of cultivation, manuring, and farming on shares. These 
gentlemen informed me that fifteen years ago the cogimia, 
or gum disease, that came near destroying the finest lemon- 
groves in Sicily and caused immense loss to the proprietors, 
was finally arrested by grafting the lemon on the sour or- 
ange stock. The charbon was another serious trouble, but 
appeared to yield to high culture and animal manure. Tim 
distance between the trees varies in different groves — eight 
by ten, twelve by sixteen, and eighteen by twenty feet apart. 
Every two years the trees are fertilized with animal manure, 
notwithstanding the apparent inexhaustible fertility of the 
soil. It is considered a single crop of lemons or oranges 
here removes a large per cent, of the organic and mineral 
elements of the soil, which must be restored by artificial 
means. The soil is calcareous and sandy around Messina, 
but along the sea-shore it is generally alluvial. On the 
mountain-slopes, terracing and the cost of transporting the 
manure on donkeys add largely to the cost of production. I 
could not obtain any figures on the cost of land, planting, 
and irrigation; but from my own supposition it amounts to 
double the cost in Florida, and on the mountains treble. 
( ompetitiou at one time became so great that overproduc- 
tion finally ensued, and the prices became so low that some 
years the crops did not bear shipment. Messrs. Callier & 
Bro. informed me that fruit has declined very rapidly the 
past few years on account of competition in America, prin- 
cipally from Florida and Louisiana, where they heard that 
thousands of young groves were coming into bearing. The 
result is that the groves once so productive have ceased to 
be remunerative, while their cultivation is being sadly neg- 
lected, and many are even abandoned. My observations 
have to some extent confirmed this gloomy picture in Sicily. 



114 Around the World in 188 '4. 

In the month of March I found the trees still laden with 
fruit as far down the coast as Catania, forty miles below 
Messina. I saw many abandoned wheels and canals for 
raising the water, many groves in weeds and overgrown 
with underbrush. The most thrifty groves of lemons were 
irrigated by drawing up the dirt into ridges to hold the 
scanty rain-fall. 

Farming on Shares 

is extensively practiced in Sicily. About one-third to one- 
half of the crop is given, the renter cultivating and paying 
all expenses. When wages are paid, two to three lires per 
day and wine — say forty to fifty cents — is the price. The 
gathering and packing do not differ materially from the 
Florida method. The entire cost of gathering, boxing, and 
delivery in Messina, from the groves in the country, in 
1884 (this year), is eleven francs, or two dollars and twenty 
cents, for one thousand and forty lemons. This is less than 
one-quarter of a cent each. It is the rule before shipping 
to examine every box of oranges and lemons, wrap in tissue- 
paper, and repack one by one. The August and September 
fruit is gathered green, but the October and November 
fruit is the best for shipping. It will keep from eight to 
nine months, and the trees bear every month in the year. 
They have nurseries here like we have in Florida: — the 
orange-seed being planted, and when the trees are two to 
three years old, budded with the lemon ; the same process 
for growing oranges. I do not think the yield is so great 
as in Florida: five hundred to one thousand lemons or 
oranges probably is the average in a well-cultivated grove. 
About five cents per dozen in Messina is the price for choice 
fruit. When a great surplus is left on the markets here, it 
is quartered and shipped, as I have stated, in pickle, for the 
manufacture of citric acid. A great deal of fruit is fed to 
stock. They work donkeys and large fine oxen, generally 



From Naples to Messina, Sicily. 115 

white, in the cultivation of the groves and in moving the 
crop to market. 

I might spend days in Messina, rambling through its old 
cathedrals, along the quay, looking at the" shipping, or up 
through the terraced gardeus that adorn the amphitheater 
of hills that rise above the city. The Messinians show an 
autograph letter containing a lock of the Virgin Mary's 
hair. It would be unsafe to question this, if you desired to 
retain their good-will. I do not doubt they had a bit of 
the true cross and a few of those old nails laid away. There 
must be nearly a keg of them scattered through Rome, Mil- 
an, Naples, Genoa, and in other parts of Europe. 

If we w r ere to go to Malta by sea, we would pass through 
the Straits of Messina (only two miles wide) that divide 
Italy from Sicily. But we want to see Catania, Mt. Etna, 
Augusta, and Syracuse. We glide down the shores of the 
Ionian Sea, through miles of lemon and orange groves, 
orchards of figs, pomegranates, almonds, and olives ; under 
the shadow of majestic mountains, whose sloping sides are 
covered with cactus, trees of cactus growing out of its crev- 
ices and rugged sides of solid rock; and away in the dis- 
tance I see Etna, rising twelve thousand feet high, all 
mantled with snow. As we approach Catania, a beautiful 
city that slumbers at its base, I see great fields of lava 
stretching away for miles up the mountain-slopes. The 
stone has been removed and made into walls, around gar- 
dens of delicious fruit. But thousands of acres still remain 
covered with scoriae and stone, which if removed could be 
converted into vineyards and groves. Lava, once disinte- 
grated, becomes the richest soil on earth. It is eleven miles 
up to the summit of snowy Etna, which centuries ago poured 
its resistless torrents of death and woe clown to the very 
edge of the Ionian Sea. Our railroad passed through great 
fields and miles of this lava-stone. We change cars at Ca- 



116 Around the World in 188 '4. 

tania for Syracuse. If we stroll through the city, a little 
distance away we behold beautiful streets paved with lava, 
houses built of lava, their furniture and toys of lava, and 
lava wherever you look or go. Sicily is a wonderful island. 
No country is richer in variety or more valuable in the 
character of its productions. It is believed our Indian 
corn is a native of this island. It is called maize here, and 
is one of Catania's largest exports. Besides corn, olive-oil, 
oranges, figs, lemons, Japan plums, almonds, silk, rags, rice, 
beans, pulse, manna, flax, hemp, rice-liquor, potatoes, wine, 
and sulphur, are largely exported. Sulphur is mined at 
the foot of Etna, and you can see men loading on the cars 
and barges, for the ships in the open roadstead, great blocks 
of this article. My Russian friend was supplied here. 

We see many goats and large herds of cattle between 
Catania and Augusta, grazing among the limestone rocks 
that crop out, and on the sides of steep hills. Cactus, in 
Sicily, grows as tall as trees. Most of the lands are in 
grass, always verdant, and Ave do not see much more culti- 
vation until we approach our destination. The road skirts 
the sea-shore the entire distance to Syracuse. 

This old town is of Greek origin, celebrated as the birth- 
place of Archimides and Theocritus. I came by here to 
visit their tombs, to see the old catacombs, the remains of 
two Greek theaters twenty-five hundred years old, the Ear 
of Dionysius, the Temple of Minerva, and several other great 
sights. On the plaza I saw an old temple with its ancient 
columns and fine old capitals worked into a new building 
called the Cathedral. It was a pagan temple once dedi- 
cated to the worship of the goddess Minerva. Near by I 
saw a collection of Grecian sculpture and antiquities that 
had been rescued from the Arcadina. There were many 
exquisite Muses, Minervas, Junos, majestic Herculeses 
and Jupiters, with dismembered arms, broken skulls, busts, 



From Naples to Messina, Sicily. 117 

and symmetrical figures, grouped about in tliis old build- 
ing. 

The famous fountain of Arethusa, once the glory of Syr- 
acuse, is now degraded into a wash-tub. 

I saw and explored the Catacomb of Arcadina, cut in 
the solid rock much* like those on the Appian Way, at 
Rome. Here is the old prison, the famous Latonise, in 
which the Syracusans confined as prisoners seven thousand 
Greeks who came to subjugate them. Those who escaped 
death were sold into slavery. Jealousy among the Greeks 
removed Alcibiades from the head of the expedition, which 
resulted in 'failure, several hundred years before Christ 
was born. Then the Romans, two hundred years before 
Christ, made the most celebrated siege in ancient history, 
finally capturing the city through the treachery of one of 
the Syracusah generals. It was during this siege Archime- 
des constructed the most powerful machines, which, with its 
fine fortifications, never could have been taken but for the 
treason of one of his generals. The fine old walls, forty 
feet high, with deep moats, yet look quite formidable. 

I saw two old stone columns, with heavy bands of iron 
around them, standing in solitude on an opeu square in an old 
street — site of another ancient temple, the Temple of Diana. 

I went out several miles with a guide who could only 
make signs to see " Dionysius's Ear," a great cavern in a 
solid rock, formed in the shape of the letter S. Along the 
walls of this prison runs a groove which collects the sounds 
of the voice. The old tyrant used to put his ear to this 
groove to see if his suspicions of suspected persons were 
correct or not. My boy threw a stone at the door, and the 
echo that rolled away was perfectly grand. It lasted for 
several minutes — or, a long time. I saw an old theater 
near by that was connected by a subterranean passage with 
the sea, like the one described in Pompeii. 



118 Around the World in 188 If.. 

There were four people in Syracuse who could speak En- 
glish. Of these, one was an Englishman, and two of the 
others were women — Italians, probably. I met no foreign- 
ers in Sicily after leaving Messina. I saw a half dozen or 
more familiar faces that were purely American in all their 
characteristics. It made me happy even to see American 
sewing-machines abroad. If they could have talked, they 
would have told me a story on these Sicilians. It seems 
every other man or woman you meet is a count or duchess 
or some sort of a nobleman. This country is as badly af- 
flicted with loud-sounding titles as Georgia. You could 
scarcely throw a rock in Sicily or Italy without hitting a 
count. 

All night long we steamed due south on a " Rubitino," 
which brought us next morning under a gigantic rock, al- 
most perpendicular, above which I saw fhe sign of "John 
Smith & Son, Bible House," and other familiar names in 
English. I knew it was Malta — another Gibraltar — a great 
rock rising out of the Mediterranean Sea. We anchored 
in the roadstead, then took a little boat for shore. I made 
a contract with my boatmen. I heard the Maltese were 
"full of fire and endowed with a penetrating imagination." 
Then I made a contract with the baggage-boy. The boat 
landed. Up a long flight of broad stone steps, then up an- 
other lofty flight, and we are soon on the public square of 
Valetta. Hotel Angleterre ; we will stop here. That pi- 
rate! he asked me three times more than we contracted for. 
I then understood what "penetrating imagination" meant. 

Much of the soil on the island has been brought from 
Sicily. In ancient times Malta is said to have supported 
a considerable population. It is of Phenician origin. In 
the year 3620 A.M., it was taken by Hannibal, the famous 
Carthaginian general, whose tomb may be visited at Ben 
Ghisa, not far from here. Like Gibraltar, Malta is well- 



From Naples to Messina, Sicily. 119 

nigh impregnable. The fortifications are very strong, and 
their guns could rake an enemy from nearly every approach 
by sea. It belongs to the English, and during the winter 
months it is crowded with tourists — nearly all from the 
British Isles. It is a great coaling-station for steamers go- 
ing East and returning homeward! Ships call here every 
day or two, bound to India, Ceylon, Australia, China, and 
Japan. Its beautiful thoroughfares and fine promenadis 
are thronged by these arrivals and departures of great 
steamers. You will find the English in all branches and 
departments of trade; especially in the shipping, banking, 
and mercantile houses do they predominate. Many of the 
hotels are also conducted by the English ; but the Angle- 
terre is the leading house among the aristocratic classes. 
I met here several gentlemen and ladies with whom I had 
parted in Naples and Messina. The English snob, the 
blight of his nation, may also be found in Malta. I have 
not yet met the spider-legged dude. I hope I may be spared 
that calamity. The true nobility of England are a high- 
cultured class of gentlemen in every sense their title con- 
veys. But there are a few sons of rich men, without titles, 
who affect more airs than any marquis, baronet, or duke 
you may meet. 

The first morning we strolled through the market. I had 
cmploj T ed for a guide a retired English sailor, an old man, 
whom for convenience I call "Beppo." He was a native of 
the island, and was thoroughly familiar with Valetta and 
other cities of Malta. 

It was a sight worth seeing. Every nation seemed to be 
represented. The natives of Morocco, Tunis, and Algiers, 
the Maltese, Sicilians, and Arabs from Alexandria, con- 
trasted strangely with the Europeans or English population. 
There were turbaned heads, fezes and caps; long flowing 
gowns and white robes ; baggy trousers, gathered about their 



120 Around the World in 1SS4. 

knees; and an indescribable jargon of languages, to be seen 
and heard. There were people with white, black, brown, 
and yellow complexions. The Turk and Greek make up 
the totd ensemble. 

The fattest joints of beef and mutton, the finest fruits and 
vegetables in endless variety, fish, oysters, eggs, and poultry, 
were here in profusion. 

I was interested in the oranges, of which there was a 
grand display, and very cheaj) — one dozen for two and 
half-penny, five cents. The egg, blood, and Tangerene, were 
the three varieties I -examined. All this fruit was remark- 
ably bright and delicious in flavor. The egg is a perfect 
beauty; but the blood-orange, a pretty oval, attracted my 
attention on account of its red pulp and juice that flowed 
or streamed out like blood. The Tangerene, or glove- 
orange, is identically the species I have seen in Florida. 
There is no difference. A good deal of this fruit and all 
the vegetables are grown on the island around Malta, 
though there is considerable communication with Tau- 
giers, Algiers, and Morocco, which you can almost or quite 
see from the heights of Citta Vecchia, near Malta ; and of a 
clear day even the shores of Sicily may be seen to the north. 

"You must see the Church of St. John and the Palace of 
the Grand Master," observed Beppo. " They are the great 
sights of Malta," 

The interior of the church is certainly grand, beyond any 
conception I had formed of its magnificence. There is no 
finer cathedral in Europe. The rich mosaics in marble, 
sculpture, frescoes, chapels, and statuary are worthy of in- 
tense study and the highest admiration. I saw one devotee 
going through the rosary and others bowing before the Vir- 
gin Mary. The Catholic is the prevailing religion. 

The palace contains the armor, courts of mail, weapons, 
and numerous trophies of the Knights of Malta. A mus- 



From Naples to Messina, Sicily. 121 

ket-ball fired at sixty yards failed to penetrate one of these 
armors. 

I have always thought of Malta in connection with its 
cats and dogs.* It is also celebrated for its rich black lace. 
Last night I heard a serenade on the house-tops near by. 
It was as convivial as any I ever listened to in Georgia. In 
the morning I looked for the combatants. I found yellow, 
white, spotted, and black cats, of immense size, with broad 
tails. But I hear the cats, like the Maltese dogs, have 
greatly degenerated. Every day a man has worried me on 
the streets with the same little white shaggy poodle — price, 
fifteen dollars. He carried it on his arms under his cloak. 

Beppo has immense guMiblity and rare bits of good hu- 
mor. He makes me laugh when I want to be silent, and 
often throws me off my dignity. We were walking un- 
der the Grand Arcade this morning, near the summit of 
those great flights of stone steps, when I motioned to a boot- 
black. Nearly a dozen jumped at my shoes, scrambling for 
the job. It required the interference of the police to re- 
store order. Beppo became greatly enraged. He was 
much excited, and grew highly indignant over this out- 
rage. You see, I employed him to do my fighting and pro- 
tect me against all impositions. You must observe, I em- 
ploy my guides like I do my horses, when traveling — for 
their combination qualities. I get all out of them I can. 

"What is the matter, Beppo? You seem to have yqur 
feelings hurt." " Yes, sir. I hate to see a gentleman in my 
care insulted. See here, if the Government don't put a 
stop to all this we are a 'ruined community.'" "Stop 
what?" says I. " Why, these boys and girls marrying. In 
ten years ten children! I never see the like afore." 

I have met the editor of the Malta News, Col. Harris, a 
brilliant, genial fellow, with a soul as big as the rock we 
stand on. He is a literary gentleman of large culture and 



1 22 Around the World in 1884. 

once of extensive fortune ; but reverses came ; his charm- 
ing wife lingered by his side and at last died, leaving deso- 
late and alone a fond husband in* this far-off land. Harris 
is an American by birth, for many years an* able journal- 
ist in the city of New York; from which place he was 
appointed by the Government to a consulate abroad. He 
showed me a rare collection of curios in his drawing-room, 
among the number an autograph letter of Alexander H. 
Stephens, which I recognized. Harris knew all the nobility 
on the island, and the govenior and his staff, whom he 
pointed out one evening riding by us. The old gentleman, 
well up in the seventies, rode as erect as a boy of sixteen, 
with a squint look out of one eye, and a dignified reserve. 
It is remarkable how well-preserved these* English people 
are. There are many members of Parliament ,over sixty- 
five and seventy. 

I always had an ambitious desire to own a mummy — an 
Egyptian relic of three thousand years. Few people, I im- 
agine, can own such a valuable piece of property. 

One day we were strolling along the Broadway of Va- 
letta, returning from the railroad station, and Beppo says: 
"Come here! Curio-shop! Mummy!" Pointing his finger 
up on a top shelf: "You see him standing up there?" 
"Yes." "You observe his face half concealed?" "Yes." 
I had just thought of Mark Twain, and was about to ask 
Beppo " if he was dead," when he cast a sly glance around 
and said, "You can buy that mummy." "Yes; how old 
you suppose that old gentleman is? Three or four thousand ? 
Call the landlord." Beppo shouted. Presently an old 
fossil who looked a good deal like the mummy came creeping 
down the steps. He spoke a strange language. I turned 
to my guide, inquiring what tongue that was. "Maltese, 
sir." "Well, Beppo, conduct the negotiation." "Gentle- 
man wants to buy the mummy. How much?" Then we 



From Naples to Messina, Sicily. 123 

all look up at that venerable countenance. " Ten pounds, 
and you take all; or seven pounds and divide," replied 
Beppo. It seems it was a custom among the Egyptians to 
conceal valuables in the bodies of their dead. Here was the 
trouble. There must be a surgical operation performed if 
I pay him thirty-five dollars, or I should have him at fifty 
dollars unimpaired. But another dilemma arose that gave 
me more trouble. Should I take him around the world 
with me? I might be arrested in San Francisco for mur- 
der or kidnapping. There was another alternative left — 
really the only feasible project presented ; that was, to em- 
ploy an Atlanta (Ga.) medical student to assist in his re- 
moval. 

Since I met the governor and that " English snob," I am 
beginning to be a little more careful " what kind of j^eople 
I associate with." 

Harris knows all the dukes, baronets, marquises, princes, 
and princesses on the island, in many different colors. To- 
day he introduced me to a distinguished author and bar- 
rister, Senor . He begged me to accept a copy of his last 

work, as a mark of his regard. This is in the Italian or 
Spanish language. As I can read neither, I shall place 
this book on the top shelf of my library, as an " honorary 
member," in a conspicuous position. 

Then Harris would have me to know his friend the mar- 
quis — particularly anxious that I should know so distin- 
guished a personage. He introduced this one to me by 
telephone. We conversed in several languages; finally in 
English, as Ave both seemed to understand that best. The 
marquis extended a most cordial invitation to call on him. 
I replied, in broken English, I very much regretted I was 
about to leave for Alexandria. Then he responded, ex- 
pressing his sincere disappointment that I should leave 
Malta without seeing him. Then I replied it would have 



124 Around the World in 188 4. 

given me great pleasure to pay the marquis my respects 
of distinguished consideration, " but my ship was waiting." 
I should depart for Alexandria. We should have called 
on the governor, probably, but our time was too limited. 

I owe all of my renown and celebrity in Malta to 
Harris. He would always introduce me by some distin- 
guished title; and among a people like the Maltese, where 
titles are held in such veneration, it was really amusing. I 
am sorry he did not accompany me through Italy and Sic- 
ily. He spoke several languages. 

My constant contact with the nobility had compelled me 
to make some important additions to my wardrobe. I must 
have a new suit, a dress suit for evening receptions and 
promenades. A conscious sense of responsibility, that con- 
ventional etiquette had recently imposed, made the demand 
imperative; so I hurried down to my English tailor, to find 
my trousers two inches too short and my coat gradually re- 
ceding. 

I wanted to visit the old city of Medina (Citta Vecchia), 
fifteen minutes by rail, from whose lofty heights I could see 
the coasts of Africa and Sicily. This is the only railroad in 
Malta. How delighted I should have been to explore the 
Grotto of St. Paul, where a bit of the true cross, the bones 
of half a dozen apostles, and saints without number, are 
shown — presented by the Popes of Kome! They have a 
drop of the Virgin's milk, too. Jes-so! In those old days 
the city bore the same name as this island, Melita. 

Beppo accompanied me to the "Persian," to see that my 
baggage was all on carefully, and to prevent any more " pen- 
etrating imaginations" being indulged in. Faithful old 
guide! I certainly had cause for congratulation, when" I 
remember Mr. Prime's account of his visit to Malta, some 
yeaiB ago. 

We plunged down the steep, narrow streets to the land- 



From Naples to Messina, Sicily. 12") 

ing-place, overturning half a dozen commissionaires, each 
of whom swore he was the man that said "Good-morning" 
the day previous, and therefore entitled to five francs. You 
need not imagine you will land in Malta without paying 
four times for it. Beppo bowed gratefully and waved his hat 
as our great ship turned her prow toward Alexandria. 

I have seen few ships or gannets since leaving Malta. 
Our bearing is south-east by east, over the calm, beautiful 
Mediterranean Sea. Very low tides; no seasickness. How 
I love the grand swell of the ocean! It has for me a 
charm indescribable. Its vast expanse is like God's love — it 
rolls all around the world. 

Capt. McConkey has kindly yielded me his state-room for 
the voyage, and shown me much kindness. In conversa- 
tion he has given a few interesting facts concerning volca- 
noes, etc., by which I am enabled to make a comparative 
statement. 

Vesuvius has two cones, separated by a little valley 
known as Atrio del Cavallo; Mt. Somma being 3,630 feet 
high — now extinct. The first eruption was in the year 79, 
when it overwhelmed Pompeii and Herculaneum. The 
active cone was originally 4,100 feet high, but the upper 
portion has been blown off. Mt. Vesuvius is thirty miles 
in circumference. 

Mt. Etna, one hundred and eighty miles south in Sicily, 
is eighty-seven miles in circumference and 10,880 feet high — ■ 
always covered with snow. Four hundred years ago, when 
in eruption, Etna answered back to Vesuvius in thunder- 
tones. The first eruption of Etna occurred 475 B.C. Capt. 
McConkey once smelled sulphur sixty miles away, and 
stopped his ship, supposing he was near the shore. In 1693 
fifty thousand people perished in Catania, but those re- 
maining rebuilt the city. 

Concerning the exports of Egypt, the Captain assured 



126 



Around the World in 188 J/.. 




In Egypt — Alexandria and Cairo. 127 

me, he once loaded with nine hundred tons of onions, and 
left five or six other vessels loading, at the same time, for 
Liverpool and other ports. 

We left Malta on the 8th of March, and in three days we 
sighted the coast-line, and soon after Alexandria — 816 miles 



CHAPTER X. 

In Egypt — Alexandria and Cairo. 

THE low coast-line we saw is a range of sand-hills. We 
see wind-mills, with their long arms turning lazily 
around; lofty palms, waving their feathery plumes; forts, 
mosques, minarets, and Pompey's Pillar, in a sweeping vis- 
ion along the low sand-hills. 

We anchor in the harbor, protected by a breakwater, 
and crowded with shipping of every nation. I see English, 
American, Italian, German, Russian, Turkish, and French 
men-of-war, bristling with grinning guns — among the num- 
ber the " Inflexible," a powerful English frigate that assisted 
in the bombardment here three years ago. The coast bat- 
teries were razed to the ground. They are still a desolate 
ruin. All the European quarter of the city, nearly, was 
destroyed — burned by the retreating rebels or government 
troops. Many shell exploded in the houses, destroying the 
finest portion of the city, in the terrific bombardment. Re- 
building progresses slowly, and it will be. many years, prob- 
ably, with a bankrupt government, before the former splen- 
dor and modern architecture of Alexandria will be restored. 
Many of its sheets rivaled even Paris in stately buildings, 
before the war. 

Before the opening of the Suez Canal, this route by Cairo 
to Suez was the great overland thoroughfare to India, the 
far East, and Australia. 

When we reached the shore we found our passport was 



128 Around the World in 188 J h 

demanded for the first time. But a franc would have car- 
ried us through. They hunted for gunpowder, pistols, to- 
bacco, and other seditious articles. But we assured the 
officials of our good intentions, and that we were only on a 
pleasure tour. 

Then the little Arab boys squared around their little 
donkeys, no taller than themselves, for passengers. They 
clamored, hallooed, and screamed, all in good humor. I 
like the donkey ; he never gets tired, and never skeers; he is 
good-natured, but self-opinionated. 

What a scene! If you have read the "Tales of the 
Arabian Nights," that filled your mind with pretty pictures 
of dream-land and Oriental splendor, of voluptuous life, com- 
fort, ease, and pleasure, roses and gorgeous-colored flowers, 
let me beg you to dispel such illusions. They are myths 
that belong to the past. Picture the Arab in a white gown, 
with yards of white cloth wound around his head for a 
turban ; the donkey-boy in his blouse, or the poor women, 
bearing jugs, jars, and baskets on their heads, with children 
astride the shoulder, in poverty and rags, and you have a 
glimpse of the Orient. 

Once Alexandria boasted of half a million people and 
four thousand palaces, being the home of the most eminent 
scholars, and claiming the finest library in the world. Here 
the Septuagint translation of the Scriptures into Greek was 
made; here the Ptolemies reigned in the zenith of their 
power, which ended with the voluptuous queen of beauty, 
Cleopatra. 

I saw the site where the ancient Pharos stood, the first 
light-house ever built in the world. We saw Pompey's Pil- 
lar long before we reached the city, as it rose in majestic 
beauty nearly a hundred feet high. It was erected in hon- 
or of Diocletian, who captured Alexandria nearly seventeen 
hundred years ago. 



Ill Egypt — Alexandria and Cairo. 129 

Almost every known nation is represented on the sign- 
boards you see along the streets of the city. In one part 
you observe French, another street Greek, a third Italian, 
a fourth Arab, etc. The business is controlled by the Greek 
merchants, notwithstanding the English and French exer- 
cise a powerful influence on its foreign commerce. The 
2>resent population exceeds two hundred thousand. 

Ptolemy built the Pharos, which was justly accounted one 
of the seven wonders of the world. It stood on a point of 
land in the shape of a cross, jutting out into the sea, where 
the present light-house now stands. It was built of marble 
and white stone, diminishing toward the top, as it towered 
away many stories high. It was said a chariot could lie 
driven up the marble stair-way that led to the top. It was 
512 English feet in height. Torches were burned in the 
upper chambers, which threw a light twenty-nine and a 
half miles distant on the sea. It was erected in the year 
285 B.C. Alexander the Great founded the city forty-seven 
years before this date. He is buried here. The library, 
containing the most valuable manuscripts on parchments 
relating to the early history of the East, was destroyed hun- 
dreds of years afterward by the Saracens, under Caliph 
Omar. Think of Mark Antony, Caesar, Cleopatra, Pompey. 
and Euclid having once walked these streets! Here St. 
Mark founded a Christian church. 

The ruii by rail between Alexandria and Cairo was 
through the Delta, of Egypt, crossing both branches of the 
Nile, the Rosetta and Damietta rivers, which flow off in dif- 
ferent directions, mingling their waters with the blue Medi- 
terranean. It is the first railroad built in Egypt (1855), 
which must have struck the Arabs with amazement. The 
distance between the two cities is about five hours, or ono 
hundred and fifty miles. My ticket is in Arabic, and looks 
like an old hen had scratched it. We are passing through a 
9 



1 30 



Around the World in 188 A. 




In Egypt — Alexandria and Cairo. 131 

level, fertile country — as rich as the Mississippi Valley or 
Western prairies — every foot of which is cultivated. We 
Bee fields of onions, garlic, barley, cotton, bearded wheat, 
beans, potatoes, groups of stately palm-trees, the tamarisk, 
flocks of ducks, the sacred ibis, pelicans, and storks; mud 
villages, with their squalid misery and poverty; minarets 
and mosques; crowds of half-naked men and women at 
every station, and naked children drinking stagnant water 
or Jjathing in the muddy pools. We see trains of camels, 
loaded with chicken- coops, sacks of grain, vegetables in 
baskets, eggs, and sugar-cane; the fellahin pumping water 
from the rivers and canals with buffaloes, or raising it by 
hand. These are some of the strange sights you see travel- 
ing through the old land of Goshen, which the children of 
Israel, famished in the desert, longed to see once more — 
where they had left their flesh-pots, garlic, and onions. 
Here we are in a land of sunshine, transported from clouds 
and rain into almost an endless spring. Here it hardly 
ever rains. The farmers need no rain, because farming 
consists in drawing water. Their crops are gathered before 
the overflow, which begins in June and continues till Octo- 
ber. This annual overflow of the Kile over this beautiful 
Delta, occasioned by the equatorial rains, leaves on the land 
every year a rich sediment which keeps up its great fer- 
tility. When the Kile has receded to its banks, the fellah- 
in, or farmers, of Egypt turn this rich deposit under and 
plant all their crops. So you see the crops are cultivated 
in the winter-time and are gathered before the Nile begins 
to rise. It was so in Abraham's time, when his sons came 
down to Egypt after corn. To my mind, this is one of the 
most charming stories in the old Bible — the most pathetic 
and beautiful — the meeting between the venerable father 
and his long-lost son, who had become the ruler over Egypt. 
It is there, through Abraham's eves, we first behold this 



132 Around the World in I884. 

historic land of the Bible. Finally, we see the yellow 
sands of the desert, rolling in hills along the green valley 
of the living river, above which tower away in grandeur 
the lofty pyramids, the sight of which thrills my very soul. 
We are in Cairo. 

In front of the station is a scene that beggars description. 
Alexandria was modern — this is Oriental sure enough. 
Acres of donkeys, dromedaries, and stately camels ; Egyp- 
tians, Turks, and black Ethiopians, swarm in blazing cos- 
tumes of all shades and gorgeous colors — turbaned, sashed, 
hallooing, kicking, screaming, until we are lost in bewil- 
derment. We rush out to select a choice animal — a donkey 
— before they are all taken. Then off we go, with the Arab 
bqy twisting the donkey's tail, whipping him on the legs as 
he sidles around, running ahead to clear the way — a perfect 
stampede down one street, up another, and around the cor- 
ner, at full speed, Avith my legs nearly touching the ground. 
I had n't enjoyed such a wild ride in twenty years. Hotel 
Alexandrie — French; proprietor, Frenchman; Arab at- 
tendant speaks French — "Ici, nous Arretons." We stop 
here. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Cairo — Citadel — Pyramids — Museum. 

COMING from Alexandria, I met an English civil en- 
gineer* on the train, who related to me many interesting 
incidents connected with the recent Egyptian war. He 
showed me at Tanta, a station just before we cross the 
splendid iron bridge over the Rosetta, where Arabi Pasha's 
troops threw the English residents on the track and ran the 
cars over them. In excavating in Egypt he found the ver- 
tebrae of a whale thirty-eight feet below the surface of the 

* Col. Ward. 



Cairo — Citadel — Pyramids — Museum. 133 

ground. He informed me Col. Moncrief, from India, had 
projected a great system of canals for Egypt, and that the 
civil war in America was the cause of the large increase in 
the production of cotton, which had been cultivated under 
the American system with profit. I saw a car-load of cot- 
ton-bales going to Alexandria, baled with bagging and iron 
ties. I saw cotton planted in four-foot rows and cultivated 
like the fields in Georgia, The stalks are pulled up and 
burned for fuel, as Egypt is destitute of wood and coal. 

Cairo is the capital of Egypt, and contains half a million 
of inhabitants, four hundred thousand of whom are follow- 
ers of Islam. I should suppose the remainder consists of. 
Copts (Egyptian Christians), Bedouins, or Arabs of the des- 
ert, Jews, Italians, Greeks, Germans, French, English, and a 
few Americans. The last class are high officials in the army 
or are spending the winter here for health and pleasure. 
The most curious and amusing sights are to be seen on the 
streets and in the bazaars of Cairo. Its street-life is its 
greatest charm to me. I have been tortured into pain, al- 
most, laughing at the donkeys and the Arab boys. I have 
sat at Shepheard's Hotel, close by the Alexandrie, and 
watched these little vagabonds for hours — fighting, shout- 
ing, dressed in all colors, bare-legged, or hardly dressed at 
all. They have named their donkeys to suit all nation- 
alities — Bismarck to a German, Napoleon to a Frenchman, 
Gladstone to an Englishman, and Yankee Doodle, are rec- 
ommended. These boys, so often in contact with Euglish 
traveling people, who constitute nine-tenths of the travel 
here, have picked up a wonderful lot of English words and 
expressions. Many of them can speak fragments of half a 
dozen languages, but they find English the most profitable. 
They will even declare their donkeys understand and speak 
the language, all in good humor. 

But if you want to see a genuine pattern of Oriental 



134 Around the World in 188 4. 

life, go to the " Muskee," in old Cairo. It is a regular 
"Arabian Nights Entertainment" all the time. The houses 
are built so narrow and so high, they nearly come together 
with their upper projecting stories. I could almost jump 
from one balcony to another. It is to keep the sun out of 
the street below. Here you behold gaudily dressed and 
half-dressed men, water-carriers, peddlers with their wares 
on their heads, shouting; donkeys braying, dogs barking, 
camels groaning, horses and carriages, mixed up in endless 
confusion. You can scarcely walk or hear your ears in 
the "Muskee;" it is a veritable pandemonium — a Babel of 
tongues and nations. A German once called this thorough- 
fare a " Hollenscandel " — a mild way of expressing it. 

I was sitting at Shepheard's Hotel this evening, when I 
witnessed the first aristocratic splurge from the Harem I 
had seen. "Here they come; clear the way!" shouted two 
runners (sais), dressed in short trousers, with bare legs, each 
holding a staff in front of him. Presently a magnificent 
carriage thundered by, with two veiled women. They wore 
long veils of silk or muslin, fastened to a pin or cylinder of 
brass, silver, or gold, over the nose, just low enough to leave 
"their dark, restless eyes exposed," which seemed to have 
an insatiable curiosity to see every thing. 

The lower class of women carry their naked brats on 
their shoulders or in baskets on top of their heads. Their 
eyes are nearly always sore, about which swarms of flies 
gather as they pass along. It is estimated that about one 
in every seven of the population is afflicted with diseased 
or swollen eyelids. It is a most revolting sight that meets 
your observation wherever you turn, among this class of 
people. Many of their mothers do not seem to even brush 
the flies away. This, to some extent, may account for the 
unusual amount of blindness prevailing among Egyptians. 

The women of the better classes are veiled in the way 



Cairo — Citadel — Pyramids — Miixciim. 



135 



described, and even many of the poor mothers affect the 
custom of concealing their faces. As soon as the girls 
marry, they adopt 
the veil. They are 
often mothers at ten 
to twelve years of 
age. I met two girls 
near the Park to- 
day, each bearing a 
baby on her shoul- 
der, I supposed were 
nurses, until my 
guide informed me 
they were married. 
I did not consid. r 
them above the ages 
mentioned. 

The bazaar is an- 
other institution of 
Cairo, as well as of 
Constantinople. I 
could not describe a 
bazaar; it is much 
like " Muskee " — in- 
describable. I wanted a fez — a flaring cap with a black tas- 
sel on top. We walked an hour before we came to the street 
where they were to be found. Just so with all these ba- 
zaars ; there is one for every thing — gold ornaments, silk, 
carpets, slippers, pipes, tobacco, antiquities of recent manu- 
facture, fez caps, etc. I wanted a veil for a souvenir. We 
bought the black crape in one shop, the cylinder in another, 
and had it made at the tailor's, a block away. They are 
mostly in narrow lanes; sometimes covered over with raft- 
ers under mattings, to protect against the rays of a vertical 




MOTHIiB AND CHILD. 



136 



Around the World in 1884- 



sun. Some of these little streets are so dark they have to 
be lighted, and Avhen lighted up they present a gorgeous 

scene. Here you see 
the merchant sitting 
cross-legged, smoking 
his pipe "with all his 
Oriental dignity." 
Occasionally he sips 
his cup of coffee. 

The dogs are giv- 
ing way before the 
advance of modern 
civilization. I heard 
they frescoed the 
streets with their hid- 
eous carcasses, like 
they do in Constan- 
tinople. 1ST 1 so. 
While I have seen 
many lean curs, I 
have been agreea- 
bly disappointed as 
to numbers. These 
a water-carrier. Christian dogs may 

eventually take their places in higher spheres of life, for 
already the fanaticism of Islam is slowly but surely giving 
way before' a liberal regime of the Egyptian Government. 
Some years ago a woman was not allowed unveiled on the 
streets of Cairo; now you see plenty of natives and all the 
Europeans every day. 

One of the finest views I ever enjoyed was from the Cita- 
del, about two or three miles distant, on the summit of a 
lofty hill that commands the whole city — below, the valley 
of the Nile, the "distant pyramids, the sands and the hills 





(137) 



138 Around the World in 188 % 

m — ■ 

of the desert beyond." It is one of the most impressive 
pictures seen in the world. It never can be forgotten. 
Within the Citadel is one of the grandest mosques, in beau- 
tiful alabaster, to be seen in Cairo, containing the tomb of 
Mehemet Ali. In 1811 this unscrupulous tyrant invited 
the brave Mamelukes into this Citadel on the pretext of an 
entertainment to be given in honor of his son ; and when it 
had ended, the invited guests started toward the gates, to 
find them all closed. Every man was shot save one, who 
made the fearful leap down the precipice — nearly one hun- 
dred feet — and escaped. This was Enim Bey. Neither was 
he or his horse injured in this miraculous feat. 

Here also is Joseph's Well — very old — hewn out of the 
solid rock, two hundred and seventy feet deep and fifteen 
feet in diameter. The bottom of this well is supposed to be 
on a level with the Nile, from whence it probably derives 
its supply of water. The water is elevated to the top by 
earthen jars attacked to ropes, which is done by a wheel 
and two mules at the bottom. It is a curious sight to watch 
the mules descending a circular stair-way, round and round, 
two hundred and seventy feet deep. 

You can see any number of traditional places about Cairo 
if you follow your guide. The number of trees some 
prophet or saint sat under, wells Joseph drank out of, rocks 
and hills venerated, are too numerous to bear mention. 
They show you the sycamore our Saviour rested under 
when Joseph and Mary fled into Egypt, the house they 
lived in, and the fount the infant Jesus was baptized in. 
Donkey-boy says (this is his account of it) : " When Christ 
little boy he be Mussulman ; fill him water, dip little boy 
in, he come out Christian. Water no do little boy good." 

Let us return to the Citadel, the Acropolis of the ancient 
Roman Babylonians. This hill is to Cairo what the Mount 
of Olives is to Jerusalem. I never tire looking down upon 



Cairo — Citadel — Pyram ids — Museum . 1 39 

the city below me, its four hundred mosques, with the muezzins 
calling to prayer, or upon the valley of the Nile, which is cov- 
ered with the monuments and ruined cities of ancient times. 
I see the narrow, winding streets of Cairo, its embowered 
gardens, palaces, parks, with its moving, restless popula- 
tion on donkeys and camels, its hundreds of minarets glis- 
tening in the sunlight, and its glorious old river winding 
itself silently away through a carpet of green amidst all 
this grandeur, antiquities, and ruins. Below our feet is the 
old city of Cairo, once the ancient Roman Babylon; and 
away to the north-east I can see the obelisk of Heliopolis, 
a tall granite shaft, upon which Joseph looked when he 
was brought a slave to Egypt. In the south-east are the 
pyramids of Sakhara, and old Memphis, former capital of 
Egypt. To the westward, as far as the eye can reach, roll 
the yellow sands of the Libyan desert like waves of the sea 
to the foot of the " Great Pyramid." Opposite Cairo is the 
Island of Rhoda, upon which is located the famous Nilom- 
eter, a graduated pillar that marks* the rise of the Nile. 
Thirty-two feet is the fewest water, forty is perfect, but 
forty-two would overwhelm the lovely valley in ruins. On 
this spot it is said Pharaoh's daughter, Thermusis, found 
Moses in the bulrushes when a little boy. 

How clear and elastic is this atmosphere of Egypt, which 
enables us to see the most distant objects ! Its eternal sun- 
shine and cloudless skies, its perennial spring of blooming 
flowers and singing birds, make it a veritable paradise in 
winter. During our winter all is bustle and activity here 
among the fanners — plowing, seeding, and irrigating their 
crops. In spring the harvest-time comes on ; the crops are 
gathered and marketed. Then the Nile begins to rise and 
flood, until the whole country looks like an ocean, with the 
cities and towns, and mud villages of the fellahin, appearing 
on mounds and elevations above its sluggish bosom. Three 



140 Around the World in 1SS4-. 

months of boat-life, work indoors, and rest for the poor 
farmers during the wet season, bring them to October, when 
the crops are planted again. 

The architecture of the Moslem, it is said, grew, like that of 
the Mongolians, out of the form of the tent, which has always 
been the home of the wild Bedouin. To this form has 
been added the cupola of the Byzantine churches among 
the Arabs and Turks and other Mussulmans. In their 
mosques you see no seats, no benches, no altars, no pictures, 
as in Christian churches; but the floors are covered with 
carpets or rugs for prostration and kneeling. 

I am sorry I could not visit the "old Moslem University, 
founded in 975. It is the largest in the world, and num- 
bers over ten thousand pupils and three hundred and twen- 
ty professors from all Mohammedan nations. Many attend 
it, however, to escape conscription to the army, which, in 
Egypt and Turkey, is feared more than death." The stu- 
dents sit cross-legged on the floor in groups, reading or 
listening to the teacher. The Koran, or Mohammedan Bi- 
ble, is the only book taught. It is the logic, grammar, ge- 
ology, theology, and law of the Mussulman world. The 
students sit, eat, and sleep on their little mats, or blankets. 
They support themselves or are supported by alms. Even 
the professors receive no salary, but are supported by the 
rich students, selling copying-books, and giving private in- 
struction. There are no benches, chairs, beds, or comforts 
of any kind. Their self-denial is simply marvelous. Here 
is the nursery — the hot-bed — of this fanaticism. Islam 
seems to be the most formidable power that Christianity 
has ever had to contend with ; and in my opinion it must 
continue for some time yet — an obstinate resistance to the 
spread of the gospel in Asia or Europe, or wherever its 
banner waves. Opposed to this old institution of El-Azhar 
is a new university — founded by the former Khedive, and 




(140) 



AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE IN THE CITY OP CAIRO. 



Cairo — Citadel — Pyram ids — Museum. 141 

superintended by a Swiss scholar, Prof. Dor — which num- 
bers three hundred or more students. The modern system 
of secular education^ — without religion, says Dr. Schaff, who 
visited both these institutions — has been adopted. All the - 
European languages, books, etc., are taught; but it is re- 
garded with suspicion by the ever-faithful. 

I found no more interesting place to visit than the Boulak 
Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, which is situated on the 
banks of the Nile, in a suburb and harbor of Cairo, Mr. 
Frank Blind — a splendid young fellow from San Francisco 
— who, like myself, was doing the world alone, was my com- 
panion to the museum. "We walked through all the pretty 
parks and grand avenues under the interlacing branches of 
the mimosa, sycamore, and tall umbrella palms, which afford- 
ed most grateful shades. Here myriads of lovely tropical 
flowers were blooming, sparrows chirping and hopping on 
the ground, rooks cawing upon the house-tops, and paroquets 
chattering among the dark embowering trees. More beau- 
tiful and charming still were the glorious heliotropes, roses, 
verbenas, and cape jasmines that nestled so sweetly in the 
memories of my home. Then we emerged into a great 
thoroughfare of bustle and life again. Black-eyed women 
looked out from latticed windows; dogs, with bristling manes 
and savage teeth, snapped and snarled from nooks and 
corners in the streets. At last we reach the museum. Here 
are monuments and statues of the remotest ages, and a vast 
collection of mummies that fill many rooms. The empty 
sarcophagi of solid granite are equally as interesting as the 
bodies they contained. They know the original locality of 
every article shown. Both bulls and ibises were worshiped 
while living, and when they died they were placed in tombs 
near the temple, embalmed, and worshiped still. The beetle 
was also an emblem of the resurrection of the dead. There 
must be more than one thousand sarcophagi and mummies 



142 



Around the World in 1S8J/.. 



ijni 1 1 'l. 




Cairo — Citadel — Pijram ids — Museum. 1 43 

gathered here from the catacomhs and tombs of Abydos, 
Sakhara, Denderah, Thebes, and other places along the Nile 
The papyrus rolls found in these mummies are among the 
most interesting curiosities of the museum. Many of these 
manuscripts of the early scholars relating to Rameses III., 
the Ptolemies, and other important events in its history be- 
fore the birth of Christ, have been transferred from here 
to the museums in Turin, Berlin, Paris, and London. I 
saw the statue of Rameses the Great, the Pharaoh of Isra- 
el's oppression, so often mentioned in the old Bible, who 
was the Napoleon of ancient times. 

Egypt's history is carved in hieroglyphics on her mono- 
liths and tombs. As I have observed, the key to this whole 
mysterious language has unlocked its riches to the world 
— the Rosetta stone. The name of King Piolcmy, inclosed 
in a eartoueh (elliptical frame), gave the first clew to this 
hieroglyphical alphabet, constructed by Dr. Young and oth- 
ers. The figures of birds, bulls, lions, serpents, and other 
characters, like knives, scissors, etc., by means of the Greek 
translation found with it, and by the aid of the old Egyptian 
(Copt) language, were spelled out' into a written language. 
I saw the most artistically wrought work in brass, ivory, 
stone, wood, bone, silver, and gold — beautiful chains, rings, 
necklaces, and other ornaments, worn over two thousand 
years ago; the work in iron and glass embracing many 
useful articles of household furniture and implements for 
agriculture, similar to those described in the excavations 
of Pompeii, at the Fernando Museum in Naples, and seem 
but the original ideas or models that are reproduced in mod- 
em forms of civilization. One age perfects what a previous 
one discovers. 

Egypt was the cradle of the earliest civilization which 
influenced the culture of literature and love of art among 
the Greeks. From here it was transmitted to Rome. It 



144 Around the World in 188 4. 

is curious nowadays to study how these old pagans excelled 
the remote generations which succeeded them in some arts 
which now appear lost to the world. Here are dead bodies 
preserved for three thousand yeai'S in these tombs — Egyp- 
tian mummies. Where are the masterpieces produced that 
rival the " Dying Gladiator" and " Laocoon," now in Rome? 
All efforts in sculpture have failed to rival their perfections. 
No one knows their age or history. The most exquisite 
bronzes, the most delicate engravings on precious stones, 
and the finest cameos I saw in Europe were dug up from 
the ruins of Pompeii. Grecian mythology was one of the 
grandest conceptions of the human mind. Her temples in 
Athens were adorned with matchless works of art,' of paint- 
ing, and of sculpture, which seemed to breathe the divinity 
of the gods they worshiped and believed to be immortal. 
Alexander spread the triumphs of her arms, and on the 
downfall of Greece rose the power of Rome. And then 
westward over Europe its power extended, until the Gauls 
and Britons were conquered by the armies of Caesar. From 
this time up to the twelfth century art appears hardly to 
have existed at all. Christianity itself, through all this 
darkened gloom of centuries, suffered martyrdom, persecu- 
tions, tortures, and human inquisitions. But it lived till the 
sixteenth century, when Martin Luther arose to assert the 
freedom of conscience and every man's right to worship 
God under his own vine and fig-tree. 

Since that period Christianity and the Bible have achieved 
more brilliant triumphs in the past hundred years, done more 
to make the world and mankind happy, than all this pa- 
gan idolatry and civilization of Egypt, Greece, and Rome 
had accomplished in three thousand years. 

The Elizabethan period marks the most brilliant dawn 
of Christianity and literature ever known, eclipsing the age 
of Augustus in Rome or Pericles in Greece. The past three 



The Great Pyramids at Gheezeh. 145 

hundred years of this new civilization that grew out of 
religious oppression has thrown back the light of the gos- 
pel upon the East, from whence it came, and now encircles 
the globe. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Great Pyramids at Gheezeh. 

LET us start early in the morniug, about the middle of 
March, from Shepheard's Hotel, to see the greatest won- 
ders of all the monuments of ancient Egypt. It is eleven 
miles distant to Cheops, the most wonderful of all the pyra- 
mids. 

Here are plenty of donkeys of every pattern and style. 
Some are white and others are mouse-colored, black, or of 
several colors. Some were shaved from head to tail, with a 
little brush left. I saw several barred off like zebras, striped 
red, blue, or other fanciful designs. It was a gorgeous spec- 
tacle. 

The hotel was crowded, as usual, with English and Amer- 
ican tourists. They all seem to have met here, from Pales- 
tine, Europe, India, and leaving in every direction. Cook's 
office, close by, was sometimes crowded with these people 
arranging tours, changing routes, or obtaining information. 
Ho there were always plenty of people -to see you off to the 
pyramids. 

Mounting your animal and getting a start are the secrets 
of a successful excursion. Thesaddle is high and stuffy, with 
stirrups to be adjusted.^ But if you can hold on, the donkey- 
boy is a lively little rascal, and will keep you in a canter 
half a day. Before I had reached the bridge across the 
Nile I was in a perfect stampede. We made noise enough 
for a dozen people, although there were only two of us. My 
donkey would start across one street and the boy would 
10 



146 Around the World in IS84. 

swing him around by the tail on the next corner, colliding 
with camels, beggars, asses, and dervishes. Nobody can 
steer a donkey. I came near going between a camel's legs 
once, at full speed, with my duster flying straight behind 
me and my legs nearly touching the ground. At another 
time I barely escaped going over my donkey's head in one di- 
rection, while he had started in another. The narrow streets 
were jammed. I had one consolation left me: if I saw ruin 
and desolation ahead, I could just extend my feet a few 
inches and let the little vagabond run out from under me. 
In two hours we were at the foot of the pyramids. The 
ride is down an avenue under the interlacing branches of 
acacia-trees, that afford a grateful shade the entire dis- 
tance. Soon after crossing the Nile, we passed the Pasha's 
harem and lovely gardens, inclosed by high walls, with 
pretty fountains in them. We soon entered the country, 
our avenue passing through broad fields of wheat, barley, and 
alfalfa. Hundreds of camels, led by the Arabs or driven 
along the road, were laden with coops of chickens, eggs, and 
grain for market; at least half of them were loaded down 
with the green alfalfa, going into Cairo. I often saw the 
camels receiving their burdens along on either side. They 
always kneel, first with their fore legs, and then doubling up 
their hind legs under them, fall flat on the ground. The 
Arabs always load or mount them in this position. They 
were cutting the grain and clover with scythes, the same to 
which they had always been accustomed. I noticed the rich 
alluvium cracked in great fissures now and then. The soil 
is of immense depth and fertility. It is a dark mulatto in 
complexion. 

As we approached our destination the venders of old 
curios and heathen gods became numerous. Every thing 
was very antique — very old, master. The beetle is a favor- 
ite relic. It was the emblem of the resurrection of their 



The Great Pyramids at Gheezeh. 



147 




148 Around the World in 188 4. 

dead. I procured a button and a lamp I suppose were used 
in Joseph's time. The supposition, even, affords some conso- 
lation. They might have belonged to Joseph — who can tell? 

It is worthy of mention that all the mighty architectural 
monuments of men have been on plains or in level coun- 
tries, "as on the banks of the Nile, the Euphrates, the 
Ganges, Lombardy and the Netherlands." Man has not 
aspired to rival the mightier works of nature by placing 
the monuments of .his genius on the Alps, the Highlands, 
or lofty Himalayas. According to the best authorities, 
there were once more than seventy pyramids, representing 
as many kings, in the valley of the Nile. Many have dis- 
appeared entirely, and " others are more or less in a ruined 
condition." These are great mountains of stone, built for 
the same purpose as tombs, to hide a royal mummy in per- 
fect security. Observes Dr. Schaff: "As soon as a king as- 
cended his throne he began to build his monument and his 
sepulcher. He wished to reign even after his death. The 
size of the pyramid corresponded to the length of the reign." 
The body of the dead monarch, being first embalmed, was 
deposited in the stone sarcophagus, previously prepared in 
the interior of the building, and the access was closed. 
They had no windows or doors. These pyramids, then, 
were the impenetrable casings of royal mummies. 

There is no doubt, according to Herodotus, that these 
ancient Egyptians entertained a strong belief in the immor- 
tality and migration of the soul and its final return to the 
body. Hence the scarabseus, to which I have alluded as a 
souvenir, was worshiped as an emblem of this immortality. 
The souls after death, passing from one animal to another, en- 
circling every object of air and water, finally enters the body 
again, after a lapse of three thousand years, and is born anew. 
This is metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls, which is 
believed in by the Buddhist in Ceylon, China, and Japan. 



The Great Pyramids at Gheezeh. 149 

This great pyramid of Cheops in front of which we now 
stand, gazing in awe upon its lofty summits, is the pyramid 
as the Sphinx at its base is the Sphinx of all the monuments 
in this historic land. It is probably the oldest as well as 
the greatest, having been erected by Chufu (Cheops) more 
than two thousand years before our Saviour was born. It 
was old when Abraham visited Pharaoh and when Moses 
led the Israelites out of bondage. I have been walking 
around its base to form some idea of its colossal proportions. 
It is the loftiest and most gigantic structure ever reared by 
human hands. It covers thirteen acres of ground, and rises 
perpendicularly 460 feet — originally 479 feet in height. It 
was once incased in polished red granite; but, like the cat- 
acombs of the Mamelukes near Cairo, it has been robbed of 
its material by the vandalism of the Saracens, Greeks, and 
Romans, to enrich their palaces and mosques. 

Herodotus informs us it required 100,000 workmen (Di- 
odorus says 360,000), changing every three months, ten 
years to construct the causeway for the conveyance of the 
stone, and twenty years more to build the great pyramid. 

But what a tumult of wild-looking Bedouins, naked 
Arabs, guides, water-carriers, invests us! One little vaga- 
bond running to pick up a stone, another with a little dirt 
god — "Three tousand year old, massa; buy, massa; very 
cheap." An English party, just about to leave in his car- 
riage for Cairo, was literally blocked and could not move 
until he had dispensed backshish. The sand is burning 
hot and deep all about the pyramids. We are right on the 
edge of the desert. There is the Nile valley rolling its verd- 
ure up to our feet. To the westward rolls away the yellow 
sand of the boundless desert. We stand for a moment, 
once more gazing on this mountain of corrugated blocks of 
stone as it rises in steps one block above the other, reced- 
ing from four different sides, until it narrows to a point far 



150 Around the World in 188 4. 

away in the air. The ascent to the top can never be for- 
gotten. You are literally dragged up — all tourists are — ■ 
and boosted, with the shouts of "Backshish" ringing in your 
ear from the ground to the very summit. The steps are at 
least two or three feet in height, requiring great physical 
effort even with two men in front pulling and one behind 
boosting up. You are reminded of the imminent danger 
and peril to your life at every step. More backshish ! 
The doctor runs along watching intently ; the boy with the 
liniment, the water-carrier, the bouquet-bearer, the musician, 
form a part of the escort to the very summit; at every 
step lifting our feet as high as our breast in quick succes- 
sion, wrenching every bone and muscle in my body, resting 
two or three times ere we reach the top. What grandeur, 
what indescribable, overwhelming sense of awe ! and our in- 
comparable insignificance amidst it all subdues us. Stand- 
ing on a platform about thirty feet square, we behold Cairo 
in the east, with its Citadel, mosques, and minarets, and be- 
yond the Mokattam hills, the green valley of the Nile, the 
stately palms, and the glorious old river studded with its 
boats and dahabeahs bound for Nubia; toward the west 
an ocean of drifting sand and barren rocks; toward the 
south the mysterious Sphinx, the neighboring pyramids of 
Chafra and Menkaura, and the more distant pyramids of 
Sakhara, Abousir, and Dashour. It is almost impossible to 
conceive of the magnitude and impressiveness of this match- 
less panorama. It is worth a journey to Egypt. What 
grand associations are connected with its history! — Abra- 
ham, Joseph, Moses, the Pharaohs, Alexander, the Ptol- 
emies, the Komans, the Saracens, the Turks, Napoleon, and 
Cleopatra. A spell of antiquity gathers about us. We are 
overwhelmed; but who can think, who can contemplate 
this picture of life and death, or muse over the boundless 
past for these thirsty, torturous, hungry cries for backshish? 



The Great Pyramids at Gheezeh. 1/)1 




152 Around the World in I884. 

It destro) r s all our peace, our serenity! " Why try to think 
at all? One must bring his meditations cut and dried, 
or else cut and dry them afterward." It was impossible. 
One offers you a drink of water, another a chisel to carve 
your name, and a third one wants to run down Cheops, 
across the sand, and up the polished casing of the pyramid 
of Chafra and return to the top of Cheops in ten minutes. 
You couldn't kill him if you were to throw him off the tops 
hardly. But it won't do to get out of humor; we must 
bear the annoyance; and, after all, we rather think it 
amusing. 

When you start down, they tie a turban around your 
waist, a kind of pull-back, while others go before, holding 
out their hands to assist you safely to the bottom. But I 
could have made the ascent to the top by myself in fifteen 
minutes, the whole number of the two hundred steps we as- 
cend not exceeding forty-three inches in height. 

From here wc walked through burning sand half knee 
deep several hundred yards south and stood before the co- 
lossal Sphinx, which has kept its ceaseless watch over the 
pyramids for forty centuries. These sphinxes, like all the 
Egyptian gods, have the body of a lion and the head of a 
man or a ram. Some of them, as at Karnak, have wings as 
"emblems of swiftness and power of elevation." This gre; t 
Sphinx, one hundred and forty-three feet in height, cut out of 
a solid mountain of stone, lifts its mutilated human head and 
lion paws out of the sand of the desert in which it had been 
buried for ages past. It is one hundred and three feet around 
the head, and its outstretched paws are fifty feet in length. I 
think at least one hundred feet is now covered up in sand. 

I saw a part of the stone causew r ay that led to the Nile, 
over which the stone was brought to build these pyramids. 
All about are the remains of tombs and temples laid bare 
under the drifting sand. 



The G.e.i Pyramids at Gheezeh. 



158 





PYRAMID OF CHEOPS, NEAR CAIRO. 



154 Around the World in 188 4. 

I stood for some minutes gazing in the stony eyes of the 
silent Sphinx, who stares in majestic repose, mutilated and 
disfigured by vandal hands, looking back in the mysterious 
past and watching this new, busy race with those same ear- 
nest, dreamy eyes. 

I did not visit or explore the queens' or kings' chambers 
in the north side of Cheops. Both these are large apart- 
ments, with sarcophagi shaped like a bath-tub of stone that 
sit in the- middle of the chambers, in which the bodies^ of 
the royal dead were once placed. They are empty now. 

We paid off a number of our imposing retinue — those 
who had served us, and a few who had merely bowed on our 
arrival and departure for Cairo — amidst a tumult and Babel 
of tongues. My dragoman belabored his donkey, running 
on foot the entire way. I offered him my seat, but he pre- 
ferred to run. -Before we reached the bridge over the Nile 
the- cannon boomed a signal for closing the gates at each end 
of this magnificent structure. We had to wait two hours. 
It gave me a fine opportunity to study camel-life, the Arabs, 
their habits, costumes, etc. There were hundreds of these 
animals, with their loads of produce of the farm and gar- 
den, squatted about resting, while their burdens were being 
weighed for tax assessment. Every article pays tribute to 
the government before it enters the city. When the gates 
were opened there was a rush indescribable. The camels, 
donkeys, and gorgeously attired Arabs, and those not at- 
tired at all, rushed from either side and became mixed up 
in inextricable confusion. Such shouting and grotesque 
gesticulation I never witnessed before. Many were seated 
on camels ten feet high, while little donkeys, no larger 
than a dog scarcely, made their w T ay underneath, seeking 
every crack and opening for escape that offered. There 
were thousands of pedestrians, who rendered the confusion 
more intolerable ; and how they "all escaped without an ac- 



TJie Mohammedan Religion and Christianity. 155 

cident I never could understand. The river and bridge 
oyer it are less than half a mile wide — what we call a free 
bridge in America. I did not recover from that donkey 
ride in two weeks. It was an eventful excursion, full of 
interest for one day. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Mohammedan Religion and Christianity. 

THE Koran is the Bible of the Mohammedans, who be- 
lieve it is like our Bible — an inspired revelation of re- 
ligion, morals, philosophy, aud government, that God has 
handed down through their prophet for the guidance of all 
Moslems. It is undoubtedly a very remarkable book, hav- 
ing made its impress on more than one hundred millions of 
the human race. But, while it often abounds in poetic 
beauty and religious fervor, it is said by Gibbon and oth- 
ers to be full of contradictions and base absurdities. I have 
an English translation which I have tried to read, but found 
it very tiresome. Like our Bible — the Old Testament — it 
has a eivil as well as an ecclesiastical code. Both govern- 
ments are one. "But, unlike our Bible, the Koran has no 
atonement, no Christ, and is a mock revelation." 

The Mussulman prays five times a day: "There is no 
Deity but Allah, and Mohammed is his apostle." The 
first is true, but the second clause corrupts the truth, says 
an eminent scholar. "They claim that as God had no wife 
he could have no Son." Their only cry is, "Allah the true 
God, and he who dies in his faith is sure to be saved ! " They 
destroyed idolatry. They believe in apostles and prophets, 
even in Abraham, Adam, Jesus, and Mohammed. Jesus 
is next to Mohammed, and with him will ultimately return 
to judge the whole world. They believe in prayer, thanks- 
giving, fasting, and a pilgrimage at least once in a life-time 



156 Around the World in 188Jf. 

to Mecca. They wash their hands' before prayer, reading a 
few verses from the Koran, which constitutes their worship. 
"Friday is their Sabbath, because on that day Adam was 
created, and on Friday the world will be judged." But 
they worship on any other day as well. Whether on board 
of ship, in the street, at home, or in the mosque, the Moslem 
turns his face toward Mecca, being alone with God, raises 
his hands to heaven, then laying them on his lap, with his 
knees bent and his forehead touching the ground, he mut- 
ters something that sounds like the Lord's Prayer. The 
hours before sunrise and after sunset for prayer were fixed 
to prevent star-worship, as in Arabia. The muezzin (crier) 
calls to prayer from the minaret of each mosque, at the five 
stated hours of the day. 

Among the most curious features of the Mohammedan 
worship, observes Dr. Schaff, are the exercises of dancing 
and howling dervishes. I could have seen these in Cairo, 
just a piece down the river, had I remained until Friday 
evening. The dervishes are the Moslem monks. By pay- 
ing a fee, a Christian is allowed to see the performances in 
the mosques. They first pray and prostrate their bodies, 
then rise, all dressed in white, flowing gowns and with 
high, stiff woolen hats, their eyes half closed and hands 
stretched out to heaven; they whirl round and round 
on their toes — ring withm ring — without touching each 
other, for an hour, until they are completely exhausted. 
They will turn forty or fifty times in one minute. Dr. Schaff 
observed, to his astonishment, one of these very dervishes 
beastly drunk in Constantinople the next day, notwithstand- 
ing their code eschews all intoxicating liquors. 

On entering the mosque I have been required to take off 
my shoes and put on slippers, for which the priest would 
expect a fee; but nothing is said about removing the hat. 
" Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon 



The Mohammedan Religion and Christianity. 157 

thou standest is holy ground." You hardly ever see a 
woman in these mosques. I have never seen one myself. 
The Koran does not enjoin them to pray. "By some it is 
doubted whether they have souls." But a Mussulman is 
allowed any number of wives if he wants to keep them. 
The position of woman in home-life among Christians at 
once establishes the preeminent claims of the Christian civ- 
ilization. Polygamy reduces woman to slavery and to end- 
loss misery in domestic life. Mohammed had fifteen wives 
and concubines. He was temperate; lived on dates and 
water, and his wives lived around him in cottages. Many 
of his successors drink whisky and live in fine houses, filled 
with eunuchs and idle women. Brigham Young, who died 
in 1877, had nineteen wives and over fifty children, and left 
an immense fortune. He was the American Mohammed. 
Mohammed conquered, plundered, and enslaved much of the 
old Bible-land, reducing it to a dreary waste by mere brute 
force ; " but Islam has ceased to be a terror and insult to 
Europe." Mohammedanism must be conquered by the su- 
perior forces of our civilization — if not eventually by force 
of arms — before it will yield its deadly hatred to the Chris- 
tian religion. Wc must not suppose that Egypt has ever at 
any period been thoroughly converted to Christ. " Her early 
churches, like her false gods, became mummified and buried 
in her tombs." Hence, Islam had an easy conquest, ob- 
serves Dr. Schaff. But there are said to be in Egypt yet 
about half a million of the old Christians, or Copts, who 
are among the educated classes, but whose religion is full of 
forms and ceremonies, having long since become petrified. 

The missionary work seems to have been inaugurated 
here about one hundred years ago by the Moravians; but 
all efforts had failed until the United Presbyterian Church 
began their work among the Copts about thirty years since. 
They commenced by teaching and instructing the children 



158 Around the World in 188 If. 

at Cairo and Alexandria up to 1865. Finally a seminary 
at Assioot, the capital of Upper Egypt, was established for 
the training of the native clergy. They have now many 
self-supporting churches and valuable property even here 
in Cairo, opposite Shepheard's Hotel. It has taken firm 
root now, and Presbyterianism appears to be the only ag- 
gressive form of Protestantism. They have about forty 
schools, and I do not know the number of pupils and con- 
verts, throughout Egypt. But, as there are four million of 
the five million inhabitants followers of Mohammed, there 
is a broad field here for Christian work. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

From Cairo to Joppa — Ismailia and Port Said. 

MUCH of the history of Egypt is like its great deserts 
— a dreary waste, with the figures of its kings on its 
monuments, worshiping animal gods, their victories and 
meritorious achievements. The people themselves were sim- 
ply .a mass of slaves, used as machines in times of peace and 
Avar. Dr. Schaff says there are three important epochs in its 
chronology, between the history of ancient Egypt and the 
Bible history of Israel — the visit of Abraham, the history 
of Joseph, and the Exodus under Moses. After the Exodus, 
Egypt is not mentioned in the Bible till the time of Solo- 
mon, who married a daughter of Pharaoh, and brought her 
into the City of David (1 Kings iii. 1). The Egyptians 
themselves appear to have had no chronology. Like the 
Chinese, they boasted of great antiquity. They numbered 
their years by the reign of the king. Menes, their first 
king, is said to have ruled 5004 B.C. ; acccording to -an- 
other authority, the historian Eawlinson, 2450 B.C. — a 
great discrepancy, I should observe, between dates in her 



From Cairo to Joppa — Ismailia and Port Said. 159 

chronology. Many of these ages and kings seem mythical, 
and nothing worthy of credence appears before the time of 
Solomon, about 1000 B.C. The account of Abraham's visit, 
as given in the Bible, agrees with all that is known of the 
Pharaohs. It appears there is no mention on their monu- 
uraents of Moses and the humiliation that overtook the 
king in his pursuit of the Israelites. The Egyptians never 
mention the defeat of their armies. 

On the 25th of March occurs the anniversary of the birth, 
as well as the death, of the prophet Mohammed. It is the 
holiest of all the holy days during the year. At the close 
of this holiday, a most inhuman practice occurs, of fanat- 
ical Arabs, or followers of the prophet, prostrating them- 
selves at full length on their faces on a certain avenue, 
packed and jammed close together, to allow the sheiks, or 
holy men, to ride over them on horseback — merely to test 
their faith and to receive the enthusiasm of the crowd that 
awaits them. They are told that if under any guilt, the sin 
•will be atoned by this act, and that a great reward awaits 
them in paradise. The pretty, black-eyed women of the 
Harem will come out and applaud this heroism. They be- 
lieve every word the sheik has told them. If any of these 
poor wretches ever die — and I suppose a number do — nothing 
will ever be said or done about it. The last night of the 
festivities, a great display of firew'orks and a performance 
of the dancing dervishes takes place,, in honor of Moham- 
med's birthday. I did not witness the dosee, nor did I de- 
sire much to see such a barbarous spectacle. 

In leaving Egypt, my eyes linger on its historical river. 
For eight hundred miles it flows between narrow valleys of 
perpendicular Avails of granite, without a single tributary. 
From the summit of these heights, or walls, on either side, 
stretches away the boundless desert. Below Cairo the Nile 
divides into the Rosetta and Damietta branches, that flow 



3 GO Around the World in 1884. 

off in different directions to the Mediterranean ; and the 
Delta opens like a fan between them, blooming like a gar- 
den to the sea-shore. It is one hundred to one hundred and 
fifty miles broad. 

For sixty or seventy miles after leaving Cairo, we behold 
still the deepest verdure — the most luxuriant fields of beard- 
ed wheat — I had supposed it was barley — fields of onions, 
sugar-cane, cotton, and vegetables; but I have seen no Indian 
corn. The wheat and barley are the corn so often referred 
to in the Bible. I have eaten the most delicious oranges, 
bananas, etc., at the stations, where you see the women bear- 
ing baskets full on their heads. You can buy this fruit at 
five cents per dozen. The large number of Arab women, 
boys, girls, and men engaged in this traffic is astonishing. 
Chickens and eggs are very abundant, and you can buy a 
dozen of the latter for six cents — hard-boiled. They seem 
to make up the sugar crop into candy and sweets — often 
into the most fanciful colors. They sell a flat cake of bread, 
very dark, as well. 

The water-carrier, throughout Egypt, will attract your 
attention. The first time I saw this institution dispensing 
the grateful beverage along the train to hundreds of thirsty 
Arabs, I thought of Dwinell's visit to Egypt, some years 
ago. My friend at first supposed it to be a dead hog the 
man had on his back. The skin seems to be taken off the 
animal whole, with the legs and head sewed up and filled 
with water. I was about to hold my nose when this man 
approached an Arab squatted on the ground, who was wait- 
ing for a drink. He held both hands up to his mouth, into 
which the water was poured by drawing the bucket just a 
little around. 

You see many curious sights along the railroad that re- 
mind you of the task-masters and the heavy burdens once 
imposed on the poor Israelites. You observe women making 



From Cairo io Joppa — Ismail ia and Port Said. 161 

up brick with straw and laying them out in the sun to dry. 
You see large numbers bearing bundles of cotton-stalks on 
their heads to their squalid mud villages for fuel. Here 
you behold a more degrading spectacle still — the poor 
mothers with their little daughters running behind animals 
that pass, gathering up their deposits, which they first prepare 
with their hands, then fresco the sides of their miserable 
abodes. Remember this, you people of Georgia who com- 
plain of your lot, with your forests of timber and inexhaust- 
ible mines of coal. I have seen naked boys and girls bath- 
ing in a stagnant pool, others drinking the water, while some 
were watering their camels, and a woman bearing a bucket 
of the same water to her house. I saw a buffalo cow plow- 
ing or pulling a plow, while a camel and a small donkey 
were pulling another, yoked together. I saw trains of cam- 
els and asses led or driven along the road to market, loaded 
with the products of the farm, with the sneaking cur, fit 
emblem of his master's degradation, following stealthily in 
his rear. 

Clover ripens here in January, and two crops of alfalfa 
are produced on the same ground in one season. All crops 
are irrigated either by hand or by raising the water from 
the canals by power. The English have introduced a few 
steam-engines; but the natives cannot use them. Wherever 
you look, this incessant toil of irrigation is visible. Two 
men swing a basket, made like a tray, by ropes, scooping 
the water up into the little trenches that conduct it through 
the growing crops. But the most striking objects are the 
water-wheels. These are worked along-side of the canals 
that checker the Delta everywhere. The water, being several 
feet below the surface, has to be raised. Sometimes you 
see a man dipping it up in a bucket and pouring it into a 
little ditch that communicates with his little field. But the 
wheel worked by the camel, more commonly by the buffalo 
11 



162 



Around the World in 1S84- 



cow, is almost universally used. I examined several of 
them— they are the rudest pieces of machinery you can im- 
agine. The wheel, with its shaft and cogs, resembles our 
old-fashioned gin-gear. On the band-wheel is worked an 
endless chain or belt of buckets or earthen jars, which ele- 
vates the water as it revolves, emptying, when the wheel 
starts downward, into a trough, from which it is conveved 
into the fields. But some of the wheels are constructed with 




A WATER-WHEEL. 

a hollow rim, full of buckets that are constantly filling and 
discharging themselves as they reach the proper elevation. 

We are leaving the green fields, dotted with their clusters 
of palms; the mud villages, with their little domes and 
minarets — this teeming land of wealth and beauty — far be- 
hind us. The lofty pyramids have long since disappeared, 
and the whole of the Delta is sinking below our vision. We 
change cars at Zagazeg for Ismailia, and are whirling across 
the boundless plains of the desert. Near Zagazeg was 
fought the decisive battle of the late Egyptian war. The 



From Cairo to Joppa — Ismailia and Port Said. 163 

English troops, under Gen. Wolseley, defeated Arabi Pasha's 
army, and he himself was made a prisoner. The Egyptian 
general had moved his army from Alexandria by the rail- 
road, destroying it behind him, to prevent pursuit by the 
enemy. But imagine Arabi Pasha's surprise to find the 
English confronting him near Zagazeg when he had brought 
up his rear in such confusion. While he was moving on 
the railroad, the entire English forces were moved by large 
transports, with their men-of-war, up the coast and through 
the canal to Ismailia, then down by railroad to the battle- 
field. It was a masterly piece of strategy on the part of the 
British general. The main line runs on to Suez, while Is- 
mailia is connected by a short branch of two miles. This 
is a pleasantly situated village on Lake Timsah, about mid- 
dle way the Suez Canal. Its green, refreshing shade lends 
a charm to the desert all around about us. 

In two hours we take a small boat for Port Said, the west- 
ern terminus of the canal, where we connect to-morrow with 
a large steamer of the Austrian Lloyds, for Jaffa. It is 
night, so we reserve a description for our return voyage, 
wlfich we must make through this canal to reach India. 

If Port Said is noted for any thing, it must be its numer- 
ous hotels, its pretty little gardens, its clean, broad streets, 
and nargile-shops. Here the Turks and Arabs smoke and 
gossip the livelong day. The pipes are kept for rent, filled 
with water, tobacco, and fire, and by the clerk or propri- 
etor set before his customer, who sits down cross-legged, takes 
the end of the long rubber stem, and draws the smoke 
through the globe of water with perfect satisfaction. He 
invariably sips a cup of coffee in the meantime, which adds 
an Oriental air of dignity to the custom. I here saw some 
beautiful golden pheasants, paroquets, and other birds. 
Ostrich-plumes are for sale in many of the shop windows. 
There is a fine variety of fish at the numerous restaurants 



164 Around the World in 188 4. 

on the streets, with bread, fruits, and onions, which are sold 
very cheap. But I should not like to live at Port Said, 
among these nargile-snioking Arabs. I might exist one 
day on the beautiful views of the blue Mediterranean. 

The dredging and making of this harbor at Port Said, by 
De Lesseps, is one of the great achievements of modern en- 
gineering. It was no less wonderful than the digging of the 
canal. Two jetties, known as the east and west walls, were 
thrown out nearly one mile in length, being nearly half a mile 
apart at their respective ends. Between these arms, or walls, 
was formed a harbor or basin, five hundred acres in extent, 
through which all ships must enter the mouth of the canal. 
They made the blocks of stone for the jetties, or walls, of 
lime-rock, which they ground up fine in mills; then it was 
molded into blocks in wooden casings, which were removed 
after they had hardened under the sun's rays. 

While here, I spent several hours very agreeably with the 
American consul, above whose office floated the American 
flag. After fifteen hours on the Mediterranean, we sighted 
the mountains of Judea. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Landing at Jaffa — Through the City. 

WE were yet some distance out at sea when we beheld 
the coast-line, the city of Jaffa, and the mountains 
of Judea beyond. But I felt I was approaching a land 
consecrated by the foot-prints of our blessed Lord. Here 
he had taught his disciples, lived, and died. Here were 
Bethlehem and Calvary — the manger where he was born, 
and the sepulcher where he was laid after his crucifixion, 
which, although hewn in solid rock, was unable to hold 
his lifeless form when the hour had come for his resurrec- 
tion. When we had anchored within a mile of the shore, 



Landing at Jaffa— Through the City. 165 




166 Around the World in 1SS4. 

Jaffa rose in majestic beauty before me. From tbe poop of 
our ship I saw to the south the laud of the Philistines, 
"where Samson and David fought and Philip preached." 
To the north, up the coast-line, towered in lofty grandeur 
Mount Carmel, which probably commemorates the place 
of Elijah's sacrifice. Between Jaffa and the mountains of 
Ephraim stretch away the beautiful valley, or plain, of 
Sharon, over which we must travel to reach Jerusalem. 
Jaffa is the oldest sea-port in the world. From here Jonah 
embarked for Tarshish ; here the cedar for Solomon's Tem- 
ple was landed — for this was the only sea-port of Palestine. 
But why longer indulge in such pleasant meditations? 
It is utterly impossible. I cannot even think. A dozen of 
these noisy Arabs are scuffling over my baggage, and a 
hundred more are pushing off from shore. They fight, 
scream, and shout, and then come to blows. Finally, they 
began to gather hold of the passengers. I was not angry ; 
I was provoked. I just drew back and pulverized one of 
them. Then they all began to reconsider. It was only the 
calmest reflection that preserved the memory of that naked 
vagabond to posterity. Here I was approaching the Holy 
Land with all the solemnity due the occasion, with my eyes 
even resting on the house-top of one Simon the tanner, on 
the spot where Noah had built his ark, and where the lowered 
sheet appeared in Peter's vision ! I tried to think of the 
good Dorcas and Tabitha, whose memories are still cher- 
ished in veneration by millions of Christian people in. my 
own land. They had once lived here. I saw it was no 
use, so we employed a half dozen of these heathens to row 
us ashore. 

Sometimes the sea is so rough the steamers cannot land 
here ; they must proceed on to Beyroot. It required four 
oarsmen with brawny arms to put us safely through the 
rocks on the shore. The surf was very high, and the men" 



Landing at Jaffa — Through the City. 167 

almost touched the rocks on either side the narrow pass as 
we pushed through. It must have been a better harbor in 
the days of Solomon, when Hiram landed the cedars from 
Lebanon for the Temple at Jerusalem. I would as soon 
attempt Scylla and Charybdis of a rough day. But these 
rocks are disarmed of the very terror they inspire you with 
by the pretty legend tradition has clothed them with. Here 
Andromeda was once chained some thousands of years ago, 
to be devoured by a terrible sea-monster. You could al- 
most discern the print of the chains — that is, see where 
they ought to be — as your heart goes out in sympathy for 
this mythical girl who never had any existence. But we 
liked to have shed tears over the pretty story, and thought 
how we should have killed that monster, but heard that 
Perseus had done it. I never felt such relief before. When 
we scrambled up the steep bluff, with our imposing retinue 
of Arabs in the rear, we could scarcely pass for the train of 
camels pressing along the narrow streets on the bluff loaded 
with boxes of oranges, goat-skins of wine (wine-jars), skins 
of oil, soap, baskets of eggs, ducks, geese, and poultry, to 
be taken by the little boats to our steamer. 

A large number of Cook's tourists — half a hundred or 
more — had just landed ahead of us. They had proceeded to 
Ramleh, and gone into camps. These tours are organized 
in Europe and America — New York and London. A ticket 
is issued for the whole tour, with coupons attached for rail- 
roads, hotels, steamers, guides, etc., including all expenses — 
except incidentals — at a stated price to each person. I pre- 
fer to travel privately, make my own schedules of time at 
different places, employ my own guides, stay as long as I 
please, or leave when I am fatigued. It is less expensive, 
and there is more comfort in it. A party of five, or even 
three, I prefer to thirty. 

We toiled up narrow, dirty streets, ill paved with cobble- 



168 Around the World in 188 /+. 

stones, among donkeys, turbaned Arabs, veiled women, de- 
nuded children that smelled — well — like Arabs. Filth and 
poverty! The city even had lost its picturesqueness from 
the sea. It Avas now only rich in historic associations to 
me. . Here was the old well from which the women were 
bearing away jars of water upon their heads, just as they 
had done since the days of the good Dorcas. Here the 
camels and little donkeys were drinking out of the great 
stone basin. Here the people of Jaffa and pilgrims on to 
Jerusalem were bathing their faces and hands, and even 
their bodies. Some were drawing up the water with the old 
Georgia sweep, while others were filling up the jars. I have 
seen this same old style of well-sweep in lower Georgia and 
Florida many a time. We pass through the market, where 
the people are all squatted on the paved court selling their 
wares, fruits, and vegetables. The oranges are magnificent. 
A few hundred yards through the sand, in rear of Jaffa, 
brought us to the Good Samaritan Inn of Mrs. Rolla Floyd. 
Here we rest for the day, and shall go up to Jerusalem at 
night. Nearly all travel here is done after sunset. It is 
too warm in the day. Mr. Floyd is absent with a party of 
tourists. He and his good lady are Americans, both most 
estimable people, and Mr. Floyd is considered the best drago- 
man in Palestine. My room looks out over the orange-groves 
on the Mediterranean. The view is perfectly gi-and. I feel 
an air of comfort already that reminds me of home. I hear 
the poultry cackling, the birds singing in the trees — sweet 
harbingers of spring. We enjoy a glorious dinner of salads, 
the crispest lettuce, Irish potatoes, English peas, fried eggs 
and ham, with the best of bread and butter. Is not this 
home? The climate here is the latitude of Palatka, Flor- 
ida. 

Mr. Frank, a Texan, who had been my companion on 
the voyage from Port Said, stopped with me for the day. 




068) 



ARABIAN BAZAR. 



Landing at Jaffa — Through the City. 169 

At Mrs. Floyd's we met another Southerner — Mr. Howard, 
from Florida. This gentleman was here studying the 
Syrian honey-bee, which he pronounced unequaled in the 
world. He will take back a large number of queens on his 
return. " There is no country equal to this," remarked Mr. 
Howard, "for honey. The flowers are blooming the year 
round." 

Jaffa is the ancient Joppa of the Bible. It has a popula- 
tion of twenty-two thousand, two thousand or more of whom 
are Christians. It rises in the form of an amphitheater, 
surrounded on top by a castle. It was fortified by Louis 
IX. in the thirteenth century, and captured in 1799 by 
Napoleon after a murderous siege. Outside of its histor- 
ical associations and its lovely orange-groves, there is not 
much to be seen in Jaffa. 

Three miles from the city, at Sarona, is located the Ger- 
man Colony, which, like the one at Haifa, was founded by 
the Temple Society some years ago. There is a general air 
of cleanliness and progress about their villages, their gar- 
dens, fields, and vineyards that exerts a civilizing influence 
over the natives. They have a smaller colony in the sub- 
urbs of Jaffa engaged in gardening, cultivation of the vine, 
oranges, etc., that has proved, like the one at Sarona, highly 
successful. They have introduced improved machinery. 
This colony also owns the hack line from here to Jerusalem, 
so we are informed. Besides the German, the Jews have 
established about nine colonies — most of them within the 
past two years — in different parts of Palestine. 

There is a large Agricultural College near here, founded 
by the Israelites for the education of Jewish youths in ag- 
ricultural pursuits. It stands a little off the road to our 
right as we go to Jerusalem — a large, attractive building, 
with pretty grounds and avenues, the latter ornamented 
with bamboo and the eucalyptus, both of which have been 



170 Around the World in 188 '4. 

introduced from foreign countries, and form a striking feat- 
ure in the landscape. It is to be hoped, as a taste for agri- 
culture is formed in their collegiate education, the Jewish 
boys will not emulate our Georgia graduates by engaging 
in other pursuits than agricultural. From all we can learn 
there is a broad, undeveloped field here for the most ambi- 
tious students Avho may practically engage in its pursuit. 
Most of these Jews come from Russia and Roumania. Two 
of the colonies have been established under the protection 
of Baron Rothschild, and will be enabled to encounter all 
the pecuniary embarrassments which some of the less fort- 
unate have suffered. 

The Jews are returning to Palestine, and those Germans 
in the colony here, who number probably four hundred 
souls, have come under a belief "that all Christians should 
live here." 

Jaffa, being the sea-port of Judea now, as it was in the days 
of Solomon, may assume, under its liberal governor, consider- 
able commercial importance as well as population. It has 
already doubled in the past eight years from immigration 
and increase. 

I have been delighted with the gardens of a German 
baron just across the street. Here may be seen many rare 
exotics, plants and flowers, growing in the open air. The 
princely owner is greatly esteemed for his liberality and 
many munificent donations. Just now he is out from Eu- 
rope, enjoying this delightful winter climate, the blush and 
bloom of his charming gardens. 

I had stood on the house-top of Simon the tanner, " close 
by the sea," and looked down in his old rock well, from 
which he probably conveyed water to his vats, that' have 
been discovered just, below. I am sure the roof I saw is 
not the flat roof Peter slept on, or in his dreams saw a 
"lowered sheet." It is a new roof, but is just like the 



Landing at Jaffa — Through the City. 171 

old one, and that answers every purpose. This spot is well 
identified by the Bible account of it. I wish all the tradi- 
tions I have tried to believe of it were as true. I am sure 
Peter drank out of this old rock well. I took a drink out of 
it before I left. My guide intimated the remains of a lake 
somewhere, now dried up, where the cedars were landed. 
I did not see this spot, or the spot where "Jonah swallowed 
the xvhale," but I examined the town pretty thoroughly. 

I visited Miss Arnot's school for girls. I spent a delightful 
hour hearing them sing. Thirty little Arab girls, all tidy 
and neat as they could be! There were several with ebony 
hair and eyes jet black, with olive complexions, dressed like 
Christian girls, who looked just charming to me. It was 
one Sunday afternoon, when our pretty girls and handsome 
boys are all supposed to be attending Sunday-school at 
home, that I heard these little Arab children sing. And 
what do you suppose they sung for me? The same songs 
you hear in America: "Jesus, lover of my soul," and 
"0 how I love Jesus!" "Jesus loves me," and other pret- 
ty airs in English. It was a scene calculated to fill the 
most unrelenting eyes with tears to hear such songs chanted 
in sweetest melody. They seemed to echo back from Cal- 
vary over the hills from Jerusalem, only thirty-six miles 
away. 

Miss Arnot invited me to make a short address, which 
she would interpret, or translate, into Arabic. I told them 
about our girls and Sunday-schools at home ; how they loved 
the same Jesus, who was born over yonder at Bethlehem ; 
how they prayed for the little Arab girls in Palestine, etc. 
At the conclusion the entire school arose and bowed, return- 
ing thanks in Arabic. During this interesting occasion a 
woman with her little baby had quietly entered an ante- 
room that opened into the chapel. I had heard the plaint- 
ive wailings, and even observed the poor mother trying to 



172 Around the World in 188 Jf. 

quiet it; but it never disturbed me. Miss Arnot apologized 
for the supposed annoyance, remarking that was one of her 
oldest pupils, Avho sometimes loved to return to the scenes of 
her school-days. See, she has brought her little baby. God 
grant that its little steps, like its Christian mother's, may be 
guided in the paths of truth and righteousness! 

Miss Arnot, a brave and dauntless girl, came out here some 
twenty-five years ago, I believe, from Scotland, investing 
her means and some contributions from friends of the enter- 
prise in this noble educational work. She erected this 
splendid structure as a girls' boarding-school, through which 
she showed us every department now in successful opera- 
tion. Her sister has come to help her, and I noticed an- 
other young lady recently out from Europe. This school, 
like Miss Baldwin's here (American), has been eminently 
successful. 

Mr. Deems, my guide, is an Arab gentleman of consider- 
able intelligence, and a good Christian. He sends a little 
daughter to Miss Arnot's school; but he remarked "there 
were Arabs who would kill their children before they would 
send them to a Christian school." Mussulmans, of course. 

There are one thousand orange-groves, gardens of pome- 
granates and figs, in the suburbs of Jaffa. The middle of 
March I found the trees hanging with fruit and blooming 
for a new crop. Mr. Deems carried me through one of the 
most celebrated groves, which consisted of three acres or 
less, in which I- found trees of an immense size, growing 
only ten to fifteen feet apart, very irregularly. The fruit 
was as bright as an English sovereign, the rust or parasite 
being unknown here as far as I could ascertain. I meas- 
ured one orange fifteen inches in circumference, and parties 
assured me they attain to a larger size. The soil was a deep, 
black alluvium, underlaid shell drawn three feet from 
around every tree, leaving a hole for the winter rains. The 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem. 173 

same method prevails in Sicily, sometimes varied by horizon- 
tal ridges instead of holes around the trees to retain the rain 
or well-water for irrigation. I do not think the average of the 
Jaffa trees will exceed seven hundred to one thousand oranges. 
The fruit I examined was of a beautiful oval or oblong shape, 
with moderately thin peel. They had lost some of the 
delicious flavor claimed for them by the continued winter 
rains. I saw no symptoms of "charbon, or insect," so com- 
mon in Sicily and Florida. The oranges are sold on the 
streets at three to five cents per dozen. The peel is still 
used for fuel and tanning. Miss Arnot showed me a quan- 
tity she w 7 as drying on her flat roof for the kitchen. No 
doubt Simon used this kind of bark in his day, and it is cer- 
tain these were the "golden apples" alluded to in Solomon's 
time. 

There is a^large species of the citrus family cultivated ex- 
tensively here by the Jews, known as "gethrogim," or gi- 
gantic citrons, that bring fabulous prices in Europe on fes- 
tival occasions if it can be guaranteed they come from the 
Holy Land. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

From Jaffa to Jerusalem — Orange Culture — An- 
cient and Modern Times Contrasted — Habits, 
Customs, etc., of the People. 

FOR much of the following information I have been placed 
under obligations to my admirable dragoman, Mr. Rolla 
Floyd, who gave me copies of the Boston Messiah's Herald, 
in which a number of his letters from Palestine appeared. 
Rev. J. M. Orrock, its excellent editor, has conferred an 
appreciated favor by promptly complying with Mr. Floyd's 
request to forward the papers. Inasmuch as most of my 
journey from Jaffa to the Holy City is made at night, this 



174 Around the World in 188 h. 

accurate account of an itinerary, or extracts I shall use of the 
letters furnished me, will be found highly entertaining. Mr. 
Floyd formerly conducted the tours of Cook & Son, of Lon- 
don, and is distinguished to-day as the most intelligent guide 
in Palestine. He came out from America in 1866 ; speaks the 
Arabic as well as his own language. He is a perfect ency- 
clopedia of Biblical knowledge, and is thoroughly familiar 
with every spot of historic interest which connects the Old 
and New Testaments with this Bible land. He carries the 
Bible on the end of his tongue, and withal is a thorough 
Christian gentleman. The distance from Jaffa to Jerusa- 
lem is twelve hours, or thirty-six miles : 

" I shall begin my first letter at and with the most ancient 
city in the world — Jaffa, Joppe, Joppa, or Japho, now called 
by the natives Yafa. In the division of the land, Japho was 
given to the tribe of Dan (Josh. xix. 46). When King 
David established his kingdom at Jerusalem, Joppa became 
the port of Jerusalem. The city of Jaffa was surrounded 
by a high wall until 1872, when it was taken down and the 
stones sold to build houses and shops with. The bazaars 
are almost always supplied with excellent fruit. The streets 
are so crowded with camels, donkeys, and lazy men that, at 
times, it is quite difficult to pass. Jaffa is indeed a busy 
place, much more so than most people think. It has several 
soap factories and large tanks of olive-oil. The oil is 
shipped to all the important places in the East and to Eu- 
rope. Large quantities of wheat and barley are shipped 
from Jaffa to Europe every year. The fruit trade is also 
large, and increases every year. The city of Jaffa is sur- 
rounded on three sides with orange, lemon, pomegranate, 
and other fruit gardens. About one thousand of these gar- 
dens raise the best oranges in the world — from thirty 
thousand to one hundred thousand a year in. each gar- 
den. They grow to an enormous size, measuring from 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem. 17 r, 

ten to twenty inches in circumference. The retail price 
for oranges is three or four for a cent, and from four to 
six dollars per thousand. The seller has to count out one 
thousand five hundred for every thousand, as that is an old 
custom. The buyer always has the right to select the best. 
Lemons are sold four or five for one cent; they are large 
and full of juice. Pomegranates are generally sold one for 
a cent ; they are large and very handsome — full of little red 
seeds, which are most delicious. If a drop of the juice gets 
on one's clothes, the stains will never come out. The peel 
is used for coloring; it makes a very bright black dye. 
Pomegranates ripen in September, lemons in December, and 
oranges in March. The orange-trees blossom in March, 
and it takes the orange one year to grow and ripen ; they 
are good to eat for some months before they ripen. All 
rtiese gardens are hedged in by the 'cactus, which grows 
from fifteen to twenty feet high and from two to three feet 
thick. It bears a fruit in summer called priekiy pear, 
which is quite sweet and very much liked by the natives. 
In the summer and autumn (the dry season) all the orange, 
lemon, and pomegranate gardens have to be irrigated. 
Each garden has a large well of water, over which is very 
primitive machinery to which the gardener attaches a mule 
to wind up water. The water is first conveyed into a large 
stone tank, made for the purpose, and when filled it is let 
out and conducted to each tree by little canals made in the 
ground. One-third of the trees are watered each day, and 
all the trees in each garden once every three days. On 
either side of the little canals they raise vegetables. By ir- 
rigation one can raise three and four crops of vegetables a 
year, and so can have vegetables all the year. Olives, 
apricots, peaches, quinces, almonds, figs, and grapes grow in 
abundance without irrigation. A few dates (which grow on 
the palm-trees), apples, bananas, grow around Jaffa; but 



1 i Around the World in 188 Jf. 

none of the before-mentioned trees raise more than one crop 
a year, except the fig, which has small figs in the early 
spring; these figs drop off before the good fruit grows. It 
was called the 'untimely figs,' or fruit (Rev. vi. 13). 

" In this country the seasons and habits of the people are 
quite changed from ours. We plant in spring; they in 
autumn. We harvest in autumn ; they in spring. We feed 
our cattle in winter; they in summer. Our vegetables die 
in winter, from cold; theirs in summer, from heat. We 
dress our hands and feet in winter to protect them from the 
cold ; they their heads in summer to protect them from the 
heat. Our farmer-women wear shoes and stockings; theirs 
go barefooted and barelegged. We eat our heartiest meal 
in the day ; they in the night. We sit in chairs ; they on 
the floor. W T e eat with knives, forks, and spoons ; they with 
their fingers. We wash our hands and face before eating; 
they after eating. Our women do the work in the house; 
theirs do the work outdoors. Our women wear rings on 
their fingers; theirs in their noses and around their ankles. 
Our women ride; theirs walk and carry loads. We have 
rain in summer; they in winter. The rainy season com- 
mences here in November and continues at intervals until 
April ; so from April until November there is no rain, and the 
earth becomes like iron or brass, as Moses and the Levites 
predicted it would if the children of Israel did not hearken 
unto the Lord their God (Lev. xxvi. 15-19 ; Deut. xxviii. 23). 

"We are now at the American Colony, about one mile 
north of the city of Jaffa ; and from here we will make an 
excursion to the Holy City (Jerusalem). We pass the Mo- 
hammedan grave-yard just on our right, where there are 
several tents pitched between the tombs. Among the tombs 
of their relations and friends the Mohammedans spend their 
days of mourning, also their days of rejoicing. Many hire 
the blind to sing by the side of the tombs of their relatives. 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem. 177 

That horrid noise we hear so often in their grave-yard is not, 
as the stranger supposes, wild animals howling, but people 
singing. Here we notice they bury as in ancient time?. 
They have just opened an old grave and taken out the 
bones, which are all that remain of the last one buried in 
this tomb. It was the father of the young man whom they 
are now preparing to bury. The young man is first washed 
and then wrapped in new white linen; his feet were tied 
together, and also his hands, with the same stuff as his body 
is wrapped in, and then a napkin is wound around his face 
(John xi. 44). The bones of the young man's father are 
put back in the grave with him, and thus he 'sleeps with 
his fathers ' (2 Chron. xxviii. 27). 

" We pass through the market, which is well furnished 
with fruit and vegetables the most of the year. Just out- 
side of the market-place the muleteer (owner of horses and 
mules) has to pay toll and take a ticket for each horse or 
mule that travels over the road between Jaffa and Jerusa- 
lem. He has to pay for each horse, mule, camel, or donkey 
six cents government currency — equal to nine, market cur- 
rency; for a carriage one has to pay fifty or sixty cents 
each way. The road was made mostly by pressed labor, 
and yet the government charges toll. What a government! 
It will no doubt sound strange to some to hear us speak 
of government currency and market currency ; but there is 
a great difference. There is also different currency in every 
town and city; for instance, in Beyroot (one hundred and 
twenty miles north of Jaffa) a napoleon — a four-dollar gold 
piece — goes for one hundred and two piasters ; in Jaffa for 
one hundred and twenty-two; in Jerusalem one hundred and 
seven; in Nablus (forty miles north of Jerusalem) one 
hundred and eighteen ; in Nazareth (about forty miles north 
of Nablus) one hundred and twenty-eight; and at Tiberias 
(twenty miles north-east of Nazareth) the napoleon is one 
12 



178 Around the World in 1884. 

hundred piasters. The before-mentioned are market prices; 
in government currency the napoleon in Jaffa is eighty-five 
piasters. 

" It "will take us about half an hour to get through these 
orange, lemon, and ' pomegranate gardens. The trees are 
now loaded with oranges. About half-way from the city to 
the plain we pass a fountain among sycamore-trees, which, 
according to tradition, is on the site where Peter raised Dor- 
cas (Acts ix. 36-42). As we pass along, on each side of the 
road are numerous tamarisk-trees, which look very much 
like our pine. We soon enter the Plain of Sharon, which 
reaches south forty miles to Gaza, and north sixty miles to 
Carmel. Its average width is about fifteen miles. Where 
the carriage-road crosses, it is about twenty miles wide. We 
soon pass on our right the Jewish Agricultural School. Mr. 
Charles Netter, of Paris, is the president of the society. 
The Plain of Sharon is bounded on the west by the Medi- 
terranean Sea, and on the east by the hills of Samaria, 
Benjamin, and Judea— all of which are in full view from 
where we emerge from the gardens to the plain. In about 
half an hour's travel from the Jewish farm we pass a mod- 
ern village called Yazur, which to the stranger looks like a 
ruin: This village is said to mark the site of Hazar-shual, 
of Joshua xix. 3. It is the traditional site where Samson 
caught the three hundred foxes, put fire-brands to their tails, 
and let them, go into the Philistine's grain (Judges xv. 4, 
5). At this village the road to Lydda branches off to the 
left. On the left is a mosque, and just opposite on the right 
is a square stone building, called ively — the tomb of a 
prophet, pilgrim from Mecca, or one related to Mohammed. 
Every year or two it is whitewashed, and reminds one of 
what our Lord said to the scribes and Pharisees (Matt, 
xxiii. 27). From this place we can see many flocks of 
eheep, goats, cows, camels, and asses feeding on the Plain of 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem. 1 70 

Sharon (1 Chron. xxvii. 29). At almost any time that we 
cross this plain from the middle of November until the end 
of March, we can see the fellahin (farmers) plowing. A 
common man can carry on his shoulder a whole set of 
their farming utensils, including plow, yoke, bows, and ox- 
goad. The greater part of their plows are wood ; the part 
that is iron looks like the flue of a small anchor. The yoke 
is a small, straight, round pole, with straight sticks in each 
end, which go down on each side of the neck of the ox and 
are tied with a small string under the ox's throat. The 
plow only has one handle, as in ancient times (Luke ix. 
62). The ox-goad is from eight to ten feet long, with a 
sharp piece of iron like a chisel on one end, which is used 
for cleaning the plow; and a spear in the other end to 
prick the cattle with. In time-of riots they use the ox-goad 
as a weapon of war, the same as in the time of Shamgar ; 
but I do not know of any one who has slain so many at 
once with an ox-goad as he did (Judges iii. 31). In March, 
April, and May, the whole Plain of Sharon (where not cul- 
tivated) is covered with flowers of almost every kind, except 
its own peculiar rose (Solomon's Song ii. 1). During the 
spring the Plain of Sharon is like a flower-garden. It 
makes one rejoice while traveling across it (Isa. xxxv. 1, 2). 
" We pass on through grain-fields and over low hills for 
about two miles, to a large olive-grove, said to have been 
planted by Napoleon eighty-three years ago. On the way, 
we pass to our left a small village called Beit Dejan. The 
name reminds one of the deity of the Philistines ; and this 
village is often pointed out by ignorant guides and drago- 
men as the site where the house of Dagon was ; but the house 
of Dagon was about eighteen miles south of this place, in 
Ashdod (1 Sam. v. 1-3). From this large olive-grove we as- 
cend for about half an hour to the top of a low ridge, where 
the town and tower of Ramleh are in full view, about three 



180 Around the World in 188J+. 

miles direct ahead. And just opposite, about two miles 
north of Ramleh, we can see the top of the Greek convent, 
which is said to mark the birthplace of St. George. The 
town of Lydda is about as large as Ramleh, but it is so 
completely surrounded by olive-groves that we can only see 
the top of the Church of St. George. The ancient name of 
Lydda was Lod (1 Chron. viii. 12; Ezra ii. 33; Neh. vii. 
37). It was to Lydda that Peter went to visit the saints 
which dwelt there; and at the same time he cured Eneas, 
who had been sick eight years with palsy (Acts ix. 33, 34). 
On our way from this ridge to Ramleh, we pass on the right 
a modern village called Surafend, surrounded by cactus 
hedges. Their houses are built mostly of mud and sticks, 
one story high, and only one room in each, and without win- 
dows. They cook, eat, drink, and sleep all together in one 
room — that is, each family. In the coldest weather they 
put their cattle in the room with their family. They all 
enter by the same door ; but the floor of the family is about 
two feet higher than where the cattle stand. The manger 
for the cattle to eat out of is made in the floor on which the 
family live ; and it is not an uncommon thing to see small 
children, a few days old, lying in the manger — that is, when 
the cattle are not in the house. 

"At Ramleh one feels quite delighted with the fragrance 
and loveliness of the numerous gardens and orchards around 
the town ; but O how changed is one's feelings on entering 
the narrow, dirty, filthy streets of the town ! It is quite a 
common thing to see in the streets, on entering the town, 
dead dogs, cats, and even dead donkeys, which lie until 
eaten up by the jackals. Ramleh is the traditional Arima- 
thea of the Bible (Matt, xxvii. 57). Here are three con- 
vents — the Russian, Greek, and Latin (Roman Catholic). 
The latter is said to be built on the site where the house of 
Nicodemus stood. There are a few soap factories in Ram- 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem. 181 

leh. Here is a small German hotel, which is kept very 
clean and neat, and which is a great comfort to travelers on 
their way from Jaffa to the City of the Great King. Be- 
fore this hotel was in running order, travelers, who could not 
make the journey from Jaffa to Jerusalem in one day, had 
to put up in the Latin convent. The most interesting thing 
around Ramleh at the present time is an old Saracenic tow- 
er, about a quarter of a mile from town. From its top is a 
grand view of Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, Gezer, Gimzo, 
Valley of Ajalon, Lydda, Mt. Carmel, Mt. Gerizim, the up- 
per Beth-horon, and the whole Plain of Sharon — from Gaza 
on the south to Carmel on the north. 

"As we leave the town of Ramleh, on a hill in the plain, 
about two miles north-east from the road, we see a village 
called Jimzo. The site is identified with ancient Gimzo — a 
city which was taken from the Israelites by the Philistines 
in the reign of Kiug Ahaz (2 Chron. xxviii. 18). There 
are many cisterns and rock-cut tombs to be seen in and 
around the village. As we ride along, the plain looks beau- 
tiful and green, with wheat and barley on both sides of the 
road, and especially on the right, as far as the eye can ex- 
tend. In about six weeks every place that is not cultivated 
on this plain will be covered with all kinds of wild flowers. 

"From the time Ave leave Ramleh until we reach a village 
called El-Kubab — a distance of six miles — a modern village 
called Abu Shoeshe is in full view. About two and a half 
miles to the right, on the side of a hill called Jezer (the 
ancient site of Gezer), Mr. Clement Ganneau, a French- 
man, found two inscriptions — one in Greek and one in He- 
brew — showing the boundary of Gezer, so there is no doubt 
about its identification. Horam, King of Gezer, was defeat- 
ed by Joshua (Josh. x. 33). The city, with its suburbs, 
was given to the Kohathite Levites (Josh. xxi. 21). The 
city remained a strong fortress of the Philistines for many 



182 Around the World in 188 4. 

years. It was captured by Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and he 
gave it as a present to his daughter, Solomon's wife (1 Kings 
ix. 15-17). El-Kubab is not identified with any ancient 
site, although there are some signs of antiquity about the 
place. It has a fine situation, and I do not think it could 
have been overlooked. At present it has a Moslem popula- 
tion of about six hundred, who for years were noted as great 
beggars. The village is nearly surrounded with olive-groves. 
A few rods beyond El-Kubab, a good dragoman will point 
out the following places: The Valley of Ajalon, just at our 
feet — the place where Joshua commanded the moon to stand 
still (Josh. x. 12) ; the upper Beth-horon, on the top of a 
high j)eak, about six miles to the north-east of El-Kubab ; the 
way the Amorite kings went when they fled from Joshua — 
toward the cave of Makkedah (Josh. x. 16); also, the 
mountains of Judea — Benjamin and Ephraim. 

"We descend a steep hill and cross the Valley of Ajalon, 
about three miles, to Latrum Qjlace of a robber), the tradi- 
tional home of the penitent thief. It is full of thieves now, 
but I do not know of any who are penitent. Many think La- 
trum to be the site of Modin, but I believe the real site of Mo- 
din is about eight miles north of Latrum, at a village called 
Midyeh, where there are seven old tombs, with a kind of 
monument over the top. It has a chamber six feet long, 
five feet wide, and eight feet high, and is called Kabut-el- 
Yehud (tombs of the Jews). The place, name, and situa- 
tion agree with the description given by Josephus in his 
thirteenth Book of Antiquities of the Jews, sixth chapter 
and sixth verse. He says that 'Simon sent to bring his 
brothers' bones, and buried them in their own city, Modin ; 
also, erected a very large monument for his father and his 
brethren, of white and polished stone ; moreover, he built 
seven pyramids also for his parents and brethren, one for 
each of them,' etc. About the same words are also record- 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem. 183 

ed in 1 Maccabees xiii. 25, 27, 28. Latrum is about twenty- 
two miles on the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem. From it is 
a very good view of the plain to the sea. 

" Near Latrum, to the left of the road, and just on the edge 
of the Plain of Ajalon, is quite a large village, called Am- 
was, at which place the ruins of an old church have been 
found. From the third to the thirteenth century Amwas 
was thought to be the site of Etnmaus — a very wild idea, as 
it is about eighteen miles from Jerusalem, while Emmaus 
was only about seven and a half (Luke xxiv. 13). I have 
no doubt but it was a place of importance, but it cannot be 
identified with any particular site. Near the village there 
is a fountain. Its water is believed by the natives to have 
great properties for healing all kinds of diseases. 

" From Latrum we descend a steep hill into a narrow val- 
ley called Wady Ali, and follow it for about two miles, 
to the foot of the mountains, a place called Bab-el-Wady 
(door, or entrance, to the valley). On our way, close by 
the road on the right, we pass a spring of water called 
Beir-el-Earyub (well of Job). On a hill, about a mile to 
the left, is a village called Deir-Earyub (Job's covenant). 
At Bab-el-Wady there is an inn. The lower part is used 
for a stable, and in the upper story are two sleeping-rooms, 
with four beds in each, and a large dining-room. One can 
almost always find something to eat at this place, as Solo- 
mon, the proprietor, keeps hens, turkeys, and pigeons, tea 
and coffee, eggs and coarse bread, sardines, etc. 

"From Bab-el-Wady, we ride up high mountains and 
down steep hills fourteen miles to the Holy City. As we 
pass up the steep defile, hill rising above hill, one cannot 
help noticing the marks of ancient terraces, which are vis- 
ible on the sides of all, although the rocks are bare in many 
places, having been left without cultivation for thousand? 
of years. The earth, as a natural consequence, has washed 



181 Around the World in 1884. 

down into the valley. In some places, years ago, there Avas 
quite a forest of scrub-oak ; but is fast being cut down for 
fuel, which is a scarce article in almost all parts of Pales- 
tine. If some enterprising people do not soon commence 
planting trees, the whole country will be stripped. From 
the top of the first mountain is a good view of Lydda, Ram- 
leh, the Plain of Sharon as far as Jaffa, and the Mediter- 
ranean Sea beyond. From this place are also to be seen 
several olive-groves. 

"In about two hours ride from Bab-el- Wady, we arrive 
at a village called Abu-Goush, named after a notorious rob- 
ber, who for many years was a terror to the whole country 
— that is, Palestine. It is said that about thirty-nine years 
ago lie, with a band of his relations, fell upon some Fran- 
ciscan monks, who were on their way to Jerusalem, robbed 
them, and then stifled them to death in an oven. At pres- 
ent the village has a population of about twelve hundred, 
nearly all related to each- other, and .the son of the great 
robber, Abu-Goush, is the chief of them — that is, governor. 
The village is on the site of Kirjath-jearim; so here we 
enter the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. xv. 9; xviii. 14, 15). 
It was here that the Ark of God was brought from Beth- 
shemesh and put in the house of Abinadab, and it remained 
here twenty years (1 Sam. vii. 1, 2). ' Lo, we heard of it 
at Ephratah ; we found it in the fields of the woods. We 
"will go into his tabernacles; we will worship at his footstool. 
Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou and the ark of thy 
strength' (Ps. cxxxii. 6-8). Here stands an old Gothic 
church, which for many years was used for a stable. It is 
now the property of the French, and has been cleaned, so 
that it can be seen to better advantage than before. It is 
divided by two rows of stone pillars — three in each row — 
supporting pointed arches. From here to Jerusalem we trav- 
el the same way, if not over the same ground, by which 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem. 185 

King David took the ark. As we descend the hill we pass 
on the left several carob or husk trees, which bear pods 
from three to seven inches long with a kind of beau in 
them, very sweet when ripe. The prodigal son would fain 
have filled his belly with this kind of "husks" (Luke xv. 
16). In the bottom of the valley we pass a fountain on 
our right called Ain Dilb, near a coffee-shop of the same 
name, Vvhere travelers are treated to bare walls and dry 
sticks. 

"In about one hour from Kirjath-jearim (orkeryet-el-cnab, 
town of grapes), we reach the top of a hill called Custal 
(or the ruins of an old castle called Kustal). About two 
miles to the north we see a mosque called Neby Samwil, on 
the site of Mizpah, a place of lookout, or watch-tower. At 
Mizpah Saul was chosen kiug, and for the first time the 
sound, 'God save the king,' was heard there (1 Sam. x. 
17-24). It was at Mizpah that the Chaldean governor was 
assassinated (2 Kings xxv. 25). As we descend the hill by 
a zigzag road a good dragoman will poiut out the site of 
Gibeah, about four miles north of Jerusalem. It was the 
home of Saul (1 Sam. x. 26). And away to the right is a 
beautiful village called Ain Karim (fountain of vineyards), 
in the midst of olive, fig, and other fruit-trees. Tradition 
makes it the birthplace of John the Baptist. As Zacha- 
rias, John's father, was a priest, he would no doubt live near 
Jerusalem ; and this place is not only near Jerusalem, but 
also in 'the hill country of Judea' (Luke i. 39). Near 
the bottom of the valley we pass a small village which is 
thought by many to be the site of Emmaus (Luke xxiv. 13). 
In this valley the most of dragomen tell travelers that it is 
the place where David slew Goliath; but by reading the 
seventeenth chapter of First Samuel we find that it was in 
the Valley of Elah, which is away to the south of Hebron. 
After reaching the top of the hill the Mount of Olives can 



186 Around the World in 1884. 

be seen on the east, and Scopus, the northern range of Ol- 
ivet. On the right we pass the Convent of the Cross, to 
the left a large building, which is the German Orphanage, 
and in a few minutes come in sight of the Holy City and 
of the mountains of Moab, fifty miles beyond. The city of 
Jerusalem is built upon four hills, and yet the hills around 
are higher than the city (Ps. cxxv. 2). 

"At Jerusalem, we will make our head-quarters at the 
Hotel Fiel. It is kept by a German whose name is Fiel. 
He speaks English, French, German, and a little Arabic. 
His hotel is situated just outside the city, at the north-west 
corner, in the cleanest and most healthy spot around the 
city, high and dry above stagnant pools of filthy water, 
dead dogs, cats, and rats — away from the filth with which 
the streets inside the city abound. To say the least, the 
Hotel Fiel is the cheapest, best, and in every way the most 
comfortable of any in the Holy Land. As we enter the 
city through the Jaffa gate, on the west side, and pass be- 
tween the Tower of David and the bankers, Messrs. John 
Frutiyer & Co., one cannot help noticing the long ranges 
of open stalls on each side of narrow lanes, with a human 
figure squatting in the corner of each as though he had 
been placed there for a show. These stalls take the place 
of our stores. In order to trade with one of these store- 
keepers we have to stand in the street just in front of his 
shop and bargain for whatever we wish to buy. There' is 
no fixed price to or for any thing. When we ask an Arab 
the price of any thing he will first say, 'Whatever you 
wish to pay/ and then, 'Take it without money;' but 
when pressed for a price he will ask from two to four times 
as much as he expects to get ; and one cannot hurt the feel- 
ings of these men more than to give them what they ask. 
They would mourn over it, and say if they had asked more 
they would have got it. But if you give them one quarter 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem. 187 

what they ask they will content themselves by saying they 
could not get more. As a rule the Arabs put one in mind 
(when trading) of Abraham bargaining with the sons of 
Heth for the cave of Machpelah: 'Nay, my lord, hear 
me; the field give I thee; and the cave that is therein, I give 
thee.' (See Gen. xxiii. 4-18.) 

"The Arabs are generally very polite. If you enter the 
tent of a wild Bedouin, or the humble cottage of a fellah 
(farmer), you are received with an ease and courtesy that 
would not disgrace a palace. The modes of salutation are 
formal, but there is something pleasing in the inquiries 
compliments, and good wishes which they heap upon their 
guests. In saluting they put their right-hand to their 
mouth, which means they praise you with their lips; then 
to their chest, to indicate that you are cherished in their 
heart ; then to their forehead, which means they esteem you 
with their intellect. When saluting a great personage they 
first lower the right-hand to the ground, which means they 
honor his feet and the ground on which he treads. A 
greater respect is implied by kissing your hand, but the 
greatest of all by kissing your feet. An Arab will tell you 
that his house is yours, his property is yours ; that he him- 
self is your slave; that he loves you with all his heart, and 
would defend you with his life. This all sounds very nice, 
but is not always meant. One of the noblest traits the 
Arabs are noted for is that when eating — whether in their 
house or by the way-side, however poor and scanty their 
fare may be — they always invite the visitor, or any one pass- 
ing by, to join them. In this habit they are generally sincere. 
The inhabitants of Palestine and Syria are a mixed race, 
made up of the descendants of the ancient Syrians and 
Arabians, who came in the armies of the Caliphs (Turks). 
Every one can distinguish a Turk, Jew, or Armenian, each 
of whom is of a different race. The Mohammedans are, 



188 Around the World in 188 4. 

and have been for many years, the lords of the land. They 
ace proud and fanatic. They are taught by the faith they 
hold to look with contempt on all other classes, and to treat 
them a'S\ inferior. They are generally polite in address and 
profuse in hospitality, but regardless of truth, and have the 
credit of not being very honest in their dealings — I mean 
those who hold office in the government. I will here copy 
a few lines written by a gentleman who spent much time in 
this country: 

" ' The Turks are few in number. Strangers in race and 
language, hated by every sect and class, wanting in phys- 
ical power, destitute of moral principle, and yet they are 
the despots of the land. The Arabs have a proverb that 
though a Turk should compass the whole circle of the sci- 
ences he would still remain a barbarian. Those occupying 
the high government situations in Syria are Turks almost 
to a man. They obtain their power by bribery, and they 
exercise it for extortion and oppression. Every pasha, in 
coming to the country, knoAVS that his term of office must 
be short, and therefore his gains must be large. The coun- 
try has thus been robbed of its wealth, and a tax imposed 
on industry.' " 

My own recollection of this eventful night's journey from 
Jaffa to Jerusalem was a perfect chaos of incidents and 
confusions. I remember many excruciating places on that 
tortuous road ; khans, inns, loaded donkeys, trains of cam- 
els, pilgrims on. foot, pilgrims on horses, in carriages, wag- 
ons, with more donkeys and camels with tinkling bells, 
loaded with oranges or merchandise from Jaffa; or noisy 
footmen with loose asses braying and kicking, returning 
from Jerusalem. Long trains of camels, loaded with boxes 
and bales of merchandise, were threading their noiseless 
way with uplifted heads in the darkness, one following the 
other; little donkeys, no larger than a dog, loaded with 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem.' 189 

coops of chickens and baskets of eggs and fruit, occasion- 
ally browsing along the road-side, with the Arab boy or his 
master strolling in the rear, made up a weird procession en 
route to the Holy City. I passed over the Plain of Sharon, 
then the Valley of Ajalon, stopping at Ramleh and Babel- 
el- Wady. At both places we had coffee or lunch, if we 
wished it. Our horses lunched too, on chaff and barley. 
In the valley I tried to imagine Joshua, and looked up for 
the moon. There was no moon. It was a dark, rainy 
night. I thought of the Latrum thieves on the edge of 
Ajalon still crying for repentance — but they needed more 
time. I was nearly convulsed with laughter over Solomon's 
effort to induce an old Moslem pilgrim at Babel-el- Wady to 
take a cup of his fragrant Mocha. The old man suffered a 
terrible pounding over his head, and was nearly dragged 
out of his wagon, but he never sipped. The lower part of 
this famous caravansary was a stable full of donkeys, cam- 
els, horses, turkeys, pigeons, and hens, all asleep together. 
The upper story boasted of two sleeping-rooms, with four 
beds»in each, and a large dining-saloon. 

We have passed over both valleys, and are now twenty- 
two miles from Jaffa. It is still fourteen miles to Jerusa- 
lem, up narrow gorges and over most rugged mountains. 
The carriage-road winds around on their steep slopes to 
lofty summits. From Babel-el- Wady to Jerusalem we must 
rise nearly three thousand feet. We soon leave the lovely 
plains far behind us, up one barren mountain of rock and 
scrub and down another, then pass Abu-Goush, named in 
honor of another celebrated robber thirty years ago, who 
was the terror of all Palestine. This village is on the site 
of Kirjath-jearim, where the ark of the covenant remained 
once twenty years. We travel the same road over which it 
was borne to Jerusalem. Descending the mountain we saw its 
slopes covered with olive-trees, and away up to our right 



190 Around the World in 188 J^. 

stood the beautiful village of Aim Karim, where John the 
Baptist was born. Bishop Marvin thought there was no 
doubt whatever about this being the "hill country" of Ju- 
dea, but it Avas very uncertain about the Baptist's birthplace 
— like Moses's tomb, there were too many of them. But 
what glimpses of Bethlehem we enjoy through the opening 
in the hills! 

Down in the valley below — which we cross — is the tra- 
ditional spot where David gathered up the five smooth 
stones with which he brought down the mighty giant, Go- 
liath of Gath. The brook was dry, but there were ship- 
loads of just such stones. I gathered up all I could carry 
and started off, but to my dismay here came the village of 
little naked Arabs, loaded down, crying, "Backshish ! back- 
shish!" They were just the kind of stones to kill a giant 
with, but I felt like emptying my cargo at that Arab vil- 
lage. I have heard the cry of backshish from the crater 
of Mount Vesuvius and the pyramids of Egypt to within 
four miles of the Holy City. To our left rose Neby Samwil, 
the site of the ancient Mizpah, from which Samuel judged 
Israel. Then Jerusalem, Jerusalem, burst upon my vis- 
ion, with her sacred mountains rising all about her. We 
do not see much of the city inside the high walls that in- 
close it (in the shape of a square) until we actually pass 
through the Jaffa or western gate. There is a large town 
building up outside of the Jaffa gate that boasts of many 
fine modern houses, pretty gardens, vineyards, cottages, 
hospices, convents, etc. We stop at Hotel Fiel on top of a 
hill in this new suburb of Jerusalem. We have endeav- 
ored to approach this City of David with feelings of awe 
and reverence, for every spot on these hills around is hal- 
lowed by the footsteps of our blessed Lord and his disci- 
ples. To-morrow morning we shall enter the Jaffa gate. 

We have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Rolla Flo) r d, under 



From Jaffa to Jerusalem. • 191 

whose charge a party of distinguished American and En- 
glish gentlemen are making the tour of Palestine. I have 
accepted a kind invitation to join them, to visit the Dead 
Sea and the Valley of the Jordan in a few days. 

I want to say something about the influence of good roads 
on travel and immigration in Palestine. The marked effect 
of the carriage-way we have just come over, connecting this 
city with Jaffa, has already been felt in the increasing pros- 
perity and growth of both cities. It is macadamized with 
small stones, and, notwithstanding some rough places which 
the government is constantly repairing, taken altogether, it 
is a marvel of engineering. The increasing tendency to 
flock to the Holy Land is not alone confined to the Jews. 
The number of pilgrims is increasing every year, while all 
the Christian sects are establishing themselves here firmly, 
under the influence of many "hobbies." It is said the 
Turkish Government is as much opposed to colonization of 
the Jews as ever, and looks with distrust toward all Chris- 
tian denominations, but is powerless to prevent the increas- 
ing tide of immigration into Palestine. Already the influx 
of foreign capital and population has exerted a decided in- 
fluence on the destinies of the country, placing Palestine at 
the head of the most progressive provinces in the Empire. 
"What is eventually to be the political effect upon this Eastern 
question, where there is so much religious interest involved, 
remains to be solved. Besides the present road alluded 
to, it is the intention of the governor to extend the road now 
in progress of construction to Bethlehem and on to Hebron. 
Then with the rich Valley of the Jordan connected by a 
road to Jericho, east of Jerusalem, we may expect a large 
annual increase of tourists to the Holy Land. Even in- 
valids could then ride in a carriage to many historic places. 



192 Around the World in 1884. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Jerusalem from the Tower op Hippicus. 

PASSING a Turkish guard at the Jaffa gate, Ave enter 
and turn to the right, Avalking through an open square 
a hundred yards or more till we reach the Citadel, in which 
the soldiers are quartered, stand guard, etc. A soldier 
shows us up a long flight of stone steps that lead to the flat 
roof of the " Tower of David, or Hippicus." It is close to 
the Jaffa gate, on the edge of the west wall of the city. It 
is located on Mt. Zion, perhaps on the very spot King David 
conquered from the Jebusites, which they had held for hun- 
dreds of years. A portion of its ancient Avails and a few 
beveled stones in the temple-wall of Solomon, noAV the 
Mosque of Omar, it is belieA'ed, are all that remain of the 
city during the reign of Herod. A feAV columns of tem- 
ples, arches, etc., rescued from oblivion, may be seen in 
other buildings of Jerusalem. The city has many times 
been destroyed by sieges of investing armies, and rebuilt. 
In the year A.D. 70 Titus razed it to the ground, leaving 
it a heap of ruins. The present wall that surrounds it oil 
four sides is only about three hundred years old. Josephus 
states that at one time during the first century Jerusa- 
lem numbered over tAVO million inhabitants. At the time 
of its destruction alluded to, he also states, eleven hundred 
thousand Jews perished and ninety-seven thousand Avere 
sold into slavery. I think the present number of inhab- 
itants will exceed 49,000— say 18,000 Moslems, 8,000 Chris- 
tians, and 24,000 JeAvs* During Easter season the number 

*In 1S75, Sir Moses Montefiore had a census taken of all the Jews 
in Palestine. At that time, eight years ago, there were 24,000 in 
Jerusalem. They are increasing every year. Mr. Floyd estimated 
the entire population of the city and its growing suburbs in 1882 
at 45,000. I base my estimates on these figures. 



Jerusalem from the Tower of Bippieus. 193 

of pilgrims swells the population ten thousand more, when you 
can hear a dozen languages spoken. When we look back, 
then, from this lofty eminence, over the history of this re- 
markable city three thousand years, we must remember there 
have been a countless number of changes that mark its event- 
ful career. We study it to-day for its sacred associations of 
the past, that make it the most interesting ruins in the 
world. Think of the twenty sieges and destructions it has 
undergone. " We have had the Jerusalem of the Jebusites, 
the Jerusalem of David and King Solomon, the Jerusalem of 
Nehemiah, a Jerusalem of the Ptolemies, of the Maccabees, 
of Herod, of the Romans, a Jerusalem of the Christian em- 
perors, a Jerusalem of the Saracens, of the Crusaders, and 
now a Jerusalem of the Turks. The Jews, Christians, and 
Mohammedans, throughout all these changes, have claimed 
it as a holy city." 

As I look clown on the solid masses of stone houses, from 
which rise countless little domes from their flat roofs, that 
look like " inverted saucers," I am reminded that the proph- 
ecy of Jeremiah (xxx. 18) — that the "city shall be builded 
upon her own heap" — has been fulfilled many times. Just 
to think, there is not a street our Saviour trod or a house 
left which he saw! They lie buried thirty to eighty feet 
deep beneath the streets and buildings we now gaze upon. 
Even the most sacred spots are difficult to identify, and all 
of them are in dispute, save one or two, among speculative 
philosophers, archaeologists, and Christian scholars. Recog- 
nizing the fact that lam walking above the old streets and sites 
of the ancient city below me, it is enough to feel that I am 
• in the presence of its holy places; that I believe Jesus here 
lived and died; that over Mt. Elias yonder is Bethlehem, 
and that at my feet almost is Calvary, where he suffered on 
the cross for me. I know this is Jerusalem — that is enough. 
Let the learned orthodox dispute; I am satisfied. These aro 
13 



194 Around the World in 188 '4. 

the feelings I endeavor to command when I look now upon 
the Damascus gate, the Mosque of Omar, the garden of Geth- 
semane, the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and the Mount of Olives. 
Let us now stroll through the city to the Holy Sepulcher 
— through narrow, crooked streets, paved with smooth, 
round stones, crowded with dirty Moslems, dogs, donkeys, 
and camels, with numerous little bazaars, open shops, fruit- 
stalls, and turbaned Arabs sitting cross-legged, smoking 
their long pipes. We see stone houses, generally two 
stories high, of solid masonry, whitewashed and plastered 
outside, with a lattice, wooden windows projecting in front, 
and streets that appear to come together a few hundred 
yards ahead of us. As we crowd along, or pick our way on 
the slippery stones down some narrow, steep street, we have 
jostled up against every thing from a donkey and a camel to 
a Jew and a Gentile. Here are Moslems, Greeks, Latins, 
Armenians, Syrians, Copts, Abyssinian?, Greek Catholics, 
Jews, and a few Protestants, scuffling for bare subsistence 
in their little niches, or bazaars, or fighting over the sacred 
places in the temples they desecrate. Except the Episco- 
pal, or Church of England, there is not a Protestant Church 
in Jerusalem that I could hear of. * There are any number of 
sects and religious hobbies, societies, associations, and united 
brethren, who have come here with every fanatical idea you 
ever heard of. Some are looking for judgment-day to come ; 
some are expecting the advent of Christ, while others believe 
there is no other spot on earth where it is safe to die. They 
are worshiping all times of day and every day in the week. 
They have festivals, Easter, or some great event, happening 
all the time. Pilgrims are arriving and departing by the' 
hundreds and thousands. They rush down to the river Jor- 
dan and plunge into its swollen flood. At another time the 
patriarch passes out the holy fire from the empty tomb of 

* Probably one or two other Protestant Societies. 



Jerusalem from the Tower of Hippicus. 195 

the Saviour, and thousands light their torches and rush 
wildly through the Holy Sepulcher, shouting with frantic 
joy. They seem to be the most devout Christians in the 
world ; they have three Sabbaths in every week. The Mo- 
hammedans observe Friday, the Jews Saturday, and the 
Christians Sunday. Rags, poverty, and dirt are three of 
the emblems that indicate the presence of Moslem rule. 
Here are the lepers, cripples, the blind, and malformed, 
sitting in her holy ways and about the city gates, crying the 
eternal "backshish." Jerusalem sits in the ashes of her 
sorrows, wailing and mourning. 

To the Christian there is no place within her walls now 
so full of interest as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 
Under its great domes are intimately associated all the im- 
portant events connected with the crucifixion. This church, 
it is said, covering about four acres of ground, is located on 
the site of Calvary. Here are the tombs of Joseph and 
ISTicodemus, the spot where the Saviour's mother appeared 
after his resurrection ; where the angel appeared ; where the 
mother of Constantine found the true cross, and where the 
Saviour appeared to Mary Magdalene ; together with other 
important places, numbering in all forty-six consecrated 
spots. We enter through a long passage into a square 
court, built in such a way as to keep the Turks from riding 
in on horseback, where you behold the throng of relic-vend- 
ers of crosses, olive-wood, pearl, beads, etc., sitting, holding 
out their goods as you pass. As we entered the door, the 
first object I saw was a flat stone in the floor, over which 
lamps were burning, and pilgrims crawling on their knees 
to kiss it. This is called the stone of unction, where the 
body of the Lord was anointed by the holy women before 
burial. A little piece off is the spot, marked by a circular 
stone, where the Virgin Mary stood looking on. I then 
advanced a few steps under the great dome, where I beheld 



196 Around the World in 188 4. 

the Holy Sepulcher, which, surrounded by sixteen beautiful 
columns of marble, marks the grave of Jesus. Within the 
little temple is a j)ieee of the stone on which the angel sat 
when Mary came thither at "early dawn." Stooping low, 
let us now enter the vault, or sepulcher, itself. It is about 
six by eight, and the stone slab, or couch, on which the 
dead Saviour lay is about half its width and quite as long. 
Over the top is a marble slab that is greatly worn by the 
lips of millions of pilgrims who have bowed here and kissed 
this piece of marble for the past fifteen hundred years. 
Here the Latin kings, Godfrey and Baldwin, of the Cru- 
saders, knelt and prayed ; queens, knights, and holy pilgrims 
believing this to be the very spot " where Christ triumphed 
over the grave and disarmed death of his terrors." Over- 
hanging the vault are some forty-two gold and silver lamps, 
presented by different sovereigns of Europe. They are kept 
burning all the time. Here stands a Greek monk, who 
will light more candles if he is paid, continually reading 
prayers. A most affecting scene is witnessed here, enough 
to melt the most obdurate heart, of poor pilgrims crawling 
in upon their knees, and weeping as if their hearts would 
break. Whether this be the spot or not, the rock-hewn 
sepulcher corresponds to the description given of it in the 
Bible. The stone slab, now cracked, on which the young 
man was found sitting and where Mary saw the two angels, 
is where the body of Christ was laid. Who can stand in its 
presence without feeling the deepest awe and reverence? 

All sects of Christians (except the Protestants) have 
chapels in this building, and each must observe its proper 
jurisdiction. Here are the Latins, Greeks, Copts, Arme- 
nians, and Syrians, which cannot worship in peace around 
the grave of the Saviour. I saw Turkish guards on duty 
as I entered the door. I heard a Babel of sounds and 
tongues of many nations throughout the vast building. The 



Jerusalem from the Tower of Hippicm. 197 

Greeks are the richest, the Copts and Syrians the poorest, of 
all the devotional sects. You see them bowed at their al- 
tars, in their little shrines and chapels, reading their Bibles, 
chanting and praying. The congregations are sitting on 
mate, bowing and kneeling, while the priests, or shaved 
monks, are passing all around, throwing incense from little 
lamps upon their devoted followers. I did not witness the 
holy fire fraud or the personation of the crucified Lord and 
resurrection. I am glad I escaped the sight of such sacri- 
lege. As I moved through the great piers and towering 
pillars of this grand, dismal, gloomy church, my guide 
pointed out many venerated places whose fame has become 
world-wide. Here is the grave of Adam, over which Mark 
Twain " wept bitter tears because he was a blood-relation." 
Here is the center of the earth; the altar where the Roman 
soldier stood on guard; the "Chapel of the Mocking;" the 
rock rent in twain, the place of the crucifixion; the. inven- 
tion of the cross, by St. Helena; the Pillar of Flagellation; 
the spot where the Saviour appeared to Mary Magdalene 
as a gardener after he had risen from the grave; etc. I 
saw the tombs of Joseph of Arimathea, cut in the solid 
stone ; also the tomb of ^icodemus, close by. Some of these 
chapels are hewn out of the solid rock of Calvary. They are 
dark, dismal caves, always lighted with lamps, which are kept 
burning. The chapel of the Copts is of this description ; also 
the magnificent chapel of St. Helena, belonging to the Arme- 
nians. I descended by a flight of twenty-eight stone steps and 
Btood under a cupola supported by four massive columns, or- 
namented with Corinthian capitals. This chapel is partly 
hewn out of the solid rock, lighted from its cupola by four 
windows. There is hei - e an altar dedicated to St. Helena, 
and one to the " penitent thief." I sat in the rock-hewn chair 
where St. Helena sat, one thousand five hundred and eighty- 
four years ago, watching, from a small window, the search 



198 Around the World in 188 '4. 

for the true cross. Descending another flight of steps, Ave 
enter the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross, belonging to 
the Latins, " where the three crosses were discovered." I 
had tried to believe every spot and every tradition con- 
nected with them throughout this vast building, as our 
guide had pointed them out. I came here to believe, not 
doubting ; but at last I am perplexed as to which of these 
crosses it was that bore the Saviour. The Latin priests say 
a piece of it has been stolen away, and I am inclined to be- 
believe it ; for it maybe seen in several cathedrals of Europe. 
I am troubled still further about the name of this chapel. 
I am afraid St. Helena found too many of these crosses. 

I looked through a screen at another j)lace, trying to see 
a piece, of the pillar to which Christ was bound when he 
was scourged. It was too dark; I could not see it. But 
you can feel it with a stick the priest furnishes you, and 
then you have no further doubt about its being there. I 
always like to be convinced when I can't see a thing. Then 
there was the old trusty blade of King Godfrey, of Jerusa- 
lem — that brave knight who, with Baldwin, rescued the 
Holy Land from the polluting hands of the Saracens. What 
enchantment, what visions of romance gathered about this 
old relic! It peoples our mind with images of mail-clad 
heroes of the Holy Wars, " with marching armies, with bat- 
tles and sieges." The memory of Baldwin, of Cceur de 
Lion, of Tancred, and the dauntless infidel Saladin, are as- 
sociated with,, its chivalrous deeds. 

We are shown the niches where the bones of the Latin 
kings Godfrey and Baldwin, the first Christian rulers over 
Jerusalem, were laid once — who had fought so long to rescue 
this sacred sepulcher from the hands of the infidel. But 
alas! the coverings of their tombs are gone, destroyed by 
some Greek fanatics, because they were Latin kings, whose 
"faith was different from theirs." 



Jerusalem from the Tower of Hippicus. 199 

"We come at last to the place of the crucifixion, the crown- 
ing glory of them all. If we have had any doubts about the 
other spots Ave have seen, we believe this is the place of the 
crucifixion. The execution of so distinguished a person as 
Jesus, who had been celebrated and known throughout Pal- 
estine long before he came to live in Jerusalem, would make 
any spot memorable for ages to come. The wonderful events 
that occurred at this time too, of the "earthquake and the 
frightful storm and darkness that intervened," would tend 
to fix the memory of the execution in the mind of the most 
indifferent witness. The story of the cross would be hand- 
ed down from father to son, and the spot pointed out ; the 
sons would transmit its location to their children, and a pe- 
riod of three hundred, years spanned ; Helena, the mother 
of Constantine, then came and built a church on the hill of 
Calvary to commemorate the most sacred and important 
event in the world's history. Since the third century there 
has always been a church here; it has been a consecrated 
spot, sacred to the memories of all generations. There can 
be no doubt or mistake about this locality of the crucifix- 
ion. The buildings upon it may crumble into dust, but the 
place can never bft forgottm. The monuments on the fields 
of Waterloo, Bunker Hill, and Yorktown may disappear, 
but their places will be remembered. The execution of the 
Saviour was too notable an event, and Calvary on which 
it occurred too familiar, to be forgotten in the short space 
of three hundred years. Strange that these holy places re- 
mained in the hands of infidels so long. The Crusaders in 
the eleventh century finally rescued them and held them 
for two hundred years; but they were at last compelled to 
abandon the Holy Land, on which millions of treasure and 
blood had been expended. Only thirty years ago the 
Crimean war was fought over the erection of a new dome 
above this verv building. And still the Turkish soldiers 



200 Around the World in 1884. 

keep watch over its sacred places to preserve peace among 
these so-called Christians. 

I believe there are hundreds of priests, monks, and pil- 
grims who spend days and even nights in devotional exer- 
cises throughout this vast building. They bow, sing, and 
pray before their shrines and chapels, and" sleep in the nich- 
es and corners, where I have seen their bedding folded away 
in the day. Priests in long white robes and sandals, or monks 
clothed in black gowns, with clean-shaved heads, barefoot- 
ed, are flitting among hundreds of pilgrims, with lighted can- 
dles, through dusty corridors and archways, finally disap- 
pearing in tombs or chapels, amidst their sepulchral gloom. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

In and Near Jerusalem. 

LET us now leave the Holy Sepulcher and walk along the 
Via Dolorosa, or "'■ Way of Grief," which leads to St. 
Stephen's gate, from near which our Saviour was led to the 
hill of Golgotha, or skulls, on which the Holy Sepulcher 
now stands — the place of his crucifixion we have just left. 
This is a narrow street, probably forty or fifty feet above 
the old street On which he was borne amidst the multi- 
tude to the cross. The guide shows many places on this 
street connected with this memorable event. The spot where 
he stumbled and fell under the weight of the cross, the print 
of his elbow in the wall, the place where he fainted, and where 
he rested the second time, and the very window from which 
" Pilate's wife warned her husband to have nothing to do 
with the persecution of the Just Man." We passed under 
the "Ecce Homo Arch"* and this window a short distance 

*The arch "Ecce Homo" is constructed out of stone and solid 
masonry. It is said this is the very window out of which Pontius 
Pilate's wife looked and warned her husband. 



In and Near Jerusalem. 201 

to the Tower of Antonio, where the guide shows the stones 
on which Jesus sat and rested before taking up his cross. 
Here once stood Pilate's hall, in which Jesus was tried, fifty 
or sixty feet below this spot. 

They show you here in Jerusalem the traditional house 
of St. Veronica, whose picture adorns so many churches in 
Italy, Spain, and France. The old masters prided them- 
selves in its production with as much ambition as they paint- 
ed their Madonnas. What made her name so famous, it 
seems, was that when the Saviour passed near her door 
loaded with the execrations of the mob, she ran out aud 
wiped the perspiration from his face with her handkerchief. 
"A perfect portrait of the Saviour's face was left upon the 
handkerchief, and remains to this day." Mark Twain said 
he knew this to be true, because he saw " this handkerchief 
in a cathedral in Paris, another in Spain, and two others 
in Italy. At Milan cathedral it cost five francs to see it, 
and at St. Peter's at Rome it is almost impossible to see it 
at any price." 

I have been amused reading the story of the Wandering 
Jew. He, too, lived here once. I suppose for half a franc 
you could see his house at any time. I did not see it; I 
was wandering about in too many other places. For eight- 
een centuries his story has been celebrated in song and read 
by millions. It is said on that memorable day of the cruci- 
fixion, when the Saviour would have sat down and rested 
for a moment, this old Jew pushed him out of his door and 
said, "Move on!" The Lord said: "Move on, thou, like- 
wise ; and the command has never been revoked from that 
day to this." It is said he has sought death in every con- 
ceivable form — in battle, lightning, and in storm — but he al- 
ways escaped ; he could not die. He is growing old now, 
but looks always the same. One thing he must do — every 
fifty years he must report in Jerusalem. 



202 Around the World in I884. 

About the Jews. 

They have four holy cities in Palestine — Jerusalem, Ti- 
berias, Hebron, and Safed. They believe their race will 
be restored to this country. They are increasing rapidly 
in this city and other portions of Palestine. Many of them 
are of Portuguese and Spanish origin, but they come here 
from everywhere — Germany, Hungary, Poland, England, 
and Russia. They all seem to be orthodox — very poor, and 
dependent on charity among their brethren. They come 
here to sleep in their burial-ground on the slopes above Je- 
hoshaphat, or the brook Kidron. You can distinguish the 
Polish Jews from all others. They look effeminate, and 
wear long curls about their ears. They speak German and 
a kind of Spanish ; and a few* English. The Hebrew is the 
conversational language used in Jerusalem. 

The most curious sight and affecting scene I ever wit- 
nessed was in a narrow, long lane, or street, on the west 
Avail of the Temple-area, outside the inclosure of the Mosque 
El-Aksa, and near Robinson's Arch, called the "Jews' Wail- 
ing Place." I had gone, like everybody who visits Jeru- 
salem, out of curiosity. It was one Friday afternoon when 
I saw many curious-looking people hurrying down narrow 7 
streets all in one direction. Presently we came in front of 
a cyclopean wall, thirty to forty feet high, built of immense 
blocks of stone. The Jews are not permitted to enter in- 
side the Temple-wall, but have rented from the Moham- 
medans the privilege to wait and worship outside. Every 
Friday afternoon, and on festival occasions, they assemble 
here to bewail the downfall of the Holy City and destruc- 
tion of their Temple. It is as near as they can approach to 
their holy places. Look at them while they read their old 
Hebrew Bibles and hymn-books, bowing to the wall and 
kissing the very stones until they are worn smooth ! There 
were a large number of Id rabbis with patriarchal beards, 



In and Near Jerusalem. 



203 




204 Around the World in I884. 

and young men whose hearts looked like they would burst 
with grief, while their eyes swam with tears. The whole 
street was filled with them and their sad lamentations. 
There Avere a few venerable mothers and young girls read- 
ing aloud and weeping ; but they have separate hours set 
apart, for their worship. I saw the Bishop of Hebron in 
his satin robe, and old men and boys with long cloaks and 
fur caps on. A long curl dangled behind each ear, and a 
part of their heads were shaved. Four of these large stones 
bear the Phenician bevel. They are about three feet high 
and twelve feet long. They are near the ground, and are, 
without a doubt, I think, a part of the original wall that 
inclosed Solomon's Temple. These are the ones they kiss. 
The other stones in the wall surrounding them have no 
bevel. 

When the Jews worship in their synagogues they turn 
their faces toward the old Temple, like the Mohammedans 
face toward Mecca. I give below a specimen of the lam- 
entations, responses, etc., they repeat at their "Wailing 
Place" on Fridays: 

For the palace that lies desolate, 
R. We sit in solitude and mourn; 
For the walls that are overthrown, 
R. We sit in solitude and mourn ; 
For our majesty that is departed, 
R. We sit in solitude and mourn; 
For the priests who have stumbled, 
R. We sit in solitude and mourn ; 
For the kings who have despised him, 
R. We sit in solitude and mourn. 

The Lamentations of Jeremiah, the most tender-hearted 
of all the prophet?, have kept this funeral-dirge of Jerusa- 
lem alive in the memories of these people, whose deepest 
humiliation and hope of deliverance find in them their full- 
est expression. 



In and Near Jerusalem. 205 

. 1 M 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Mount Moriah — The Mosque of Omar — The Won- 
derful Rock — Mohammed's Dream. 

LET us go from the Jews' Wailing Place to the Mosque 
of Omar. If we could climb over the lofty wall nbove 
us we would be inside the inclosure. We move along the 
narrow, retired lane of these Jews toward the south wall of 
the city. We see the remains of a large arch Robinson 
discovered, with stones nearly twenty feet long. This ex- 
plorer decided from the great width of the arch, about fifty 
feet, it must have served as a bridge over the Tyropceon 
valley, which separates the Temple-area from Mount Zion, 
on which Solomon's Palace stood. It is generally conceded 
that Robinson's supposition is correct, by excavations since 
made. The east wall of the Temple-area, fronting Mount 
of Olives, is the city wall also; but it is surrounded on its 
other three sides by high walls that divide the Mosque of 
Omar from the city. The area inclosed is about forty acres 
square, or one-fourth of the area of Jerusalem. The area 
is about the same size as that formerly devoted to the Tem- 
ple. It embraces the south-east portion of the city, and 
extends up the east wall nearly to the Golden Gate, with 
the Wailing Place on- the west. Until a few years ago no 
Christian was permitted to pollute this holy ground. It 
was too sacred. But now a little backshish and a permit 
from the American Consul will admit you to the "holiest 
of all the holies." In this large open area stand a few 
buildings, among the most interesting to the Christian, ex- 
cept the Holy Sepulcher, in the world. The Mosque of 
Omar, on the original site of Solomon's Temple, and a 
basilica called El-Aksa, compose the great attractions. 
This is the old Mount Moriah of the Bible, on which Abra- 
ham was about to offer up Isaac; once the threshing-floor 



206 Around the World in 188 J^. 

of Araunah the Jebusite. It is now in the hands of the 
Moslems, who regard it as sacred equally with the Jews. 
"The Moslems call it the Haram-esh-Sherif, or noble sanc- 
tuary, the pride of old and new Jerusalem, one of the most 
profoundly interesting spots in the world." Mount Moriah 
is the acropolis of Jerusalem, the glory of the Mohamme- 
dans and the lament of the Jews, which, up to the Crimean 
war, no Christian was permitted tc enter. " For three hun- 
dred years, from Constantine to the conquest of Omar (637), 
and during the reign of the Crusaders (1099 to 1187), it 
was occupied by the Christians." The whole in closure ' 
looks like a gigantic fortress, rising from the declivities of 
a hill on three sides. Its masonry embraces several peri- 
ods, from the days of Solomon and Herod to modern times. 
The beautiful plateau, or grounds, paved with marble and 
ornamented with fountains, cypresses, and an orange-grove 
near El-Aksa, heightens the charms of this grand inclosure. 
Recent excavations have undoubtedly proved that these 
buildings now occupy the site of the old Temple, within 
whose walls once rested the ark of the covenant, and made 
doubly sacred by the presence of our Lord and his disci- 
ples. Herod, after Solomon, built a temple on the same 
site that excited the wonder of the disciples, who exclaimed : 
"Master, see what manner of stones, and what buildings 
are here ! And Jesus answered, saying, There shall not be 
left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." 
After its destruction by Titus in A.D. 70, Hadrian built 
the Temple of Jupiter, and we lose sight of any more struct- 
ures on this sacred spot till the time of Constantine. 
The present building, Mosque of Omar, is in the shape of 
an octagon, and rises from a platform one hundred and sev- 
enty feet high. The dome above it is sixty-five feet in di- 
ameter, and swells its graceful proportions nearly one hun- 
dred feet in height. It is the most beautiful building in 



In and Near Jerusalem. 207 

Jerusalem, and stands out conspicuously from every direc- 
tion you behold it. It is only second to Mecca itself with 
the Mohammedans. The immense dome is supported by 
columns of porphyry rescued from the debris of Solomon's 
or Herod's Temple. Some of the magnificent columns sup- 
porting the roof are no less than forty feet in height and 
four feet in diameter. The floor is laid in marble mosaic. 
But the most interesting object shown in the magnificent 
interior is the famous rock on which David stood persuad- 
ing the angel to spare Jerusalem. From this rock Moham- 
med ascended to the heavens, and the rock started after 
him, but was caught by the angel Gabriel, who stood by. 
You know this must be so. The guide shows you the print 
of the angel's fingers upon it. Then he shows you the foot- 
prints of the prophet on the rock, where he took his flight 
to paradise above. They (the Moslems) believe this rock is 
suspended in the air, etc. It is about fifty-seven feet long 
and forty-three wide, and rises five feet above the mosaic 
marble pavement beneath the majestic dome. Upon this 
rock Isaac was offered up, here the ark of the covenant 
rested, and here burnt-offerings were made. It is also the 
center of the earth, according to Mohammedan authority. 
"What strikes you most curiously are the antique remains 
of columns, capitals, and stones preserved by being worked 
in the present buildings of the Mosque of Omar and Basil- 
ica El-Aksa, that suggest a grandeur of magnificence " we 
have been taught to regard as the princeliest ever seen on 
the earth. They call up pictures of a pageant that is fa- 
miliar to all imaginations — camels laden with spices and 
treasure; beautiful slaves, presents for Solomon's harem; a 
long cavalcade of richly caparisoned beasts and warriors, 
and Sheba's Queen in the van of this vision of Oriental 
magnificence." There are some inscriptions from the Koran, 
and other objects I cannot enumerate. 



208 Around the World in 1884. 

Under the south-east corner of the Temple-area, about 
twenty feet probably, under-ground, have been discovered 
the most wonderful remains about Jerusalem. They are 
immense under-ground corridors, built with arches and col- 
umns, one above the other, instead of filling up the ground, 
to the height of one hundred or more feet. On top it is 
covered over with earth, which makes it appear like solid 
ground. By this arrangement a part of the Valley of Je- 
hoshaphat was incorporated into the Temple-inclosure. Many 
of the stones are of Phenician bevel, whether of Solomon's 
or Herod's time we do not know — but probably the former, as 
they could be used by Herod from former buildings, just as 
those splendid remains in El-Aksa and Omar have been 
preserved. In the columns holes have been cut, as if to 
serve for hitching horses. This is the reason these corridors 
have often been called Solomon's stable. But then the Cru- 
saders may have used them and cut these holes. Who can 
tell? 

Some more old columns, arches, and bronze sockets for 
double gates may be seen under the grand entrance to the 
Temple beneath the Golden gate. The excavations of Cap- 
tains Warren and Wilson showed a perfect honey-comb of 
caverns, wells, and reservoirs underneath Moriah in ancient 
times; so Jerusalem was enabled to stand long sieges in 
times of Avar, as far as a supply ,of the " pure waters of life 
were concerned." 

The Golden gate, to which I have alluded, on the east- 
ern wall fronting Jehoshaphat and Mount of Olives, is of 
very ancient origin, pi'ofusely ornamented, and probably 
corresponds to the "closed gate" of Ezekiel xliv. 1, 13; 
but Dr. Schaff thinks it of Byzantine origin. The gate is 
closed now. I walked very near it. There is a very high, 
steep bluff along the entire east wall, fronting Jehoshaphat. 
\ found it difficult to walk in places. The Mohammedans 



In and. Near Jerusalem. 209 

believe the Christians will finally break through the Golden 
gate. It looks a little tottering now. Here both Jews and 
Mohammedans localize the scenes of judgment-day, which 
shall be pronounced by the Lord standing on the slope of 
Mount Olivet opposite this gate. The Mohammedans say 
that Mohammed and the Lord together will pronounce the 
judgments. It was through this gate Christ made his tri- 
umphal entry into Jerusalem. Bishop Marvin, in 1877, 
explored an immense quarry under the city not far from 
the Damascus gate, where he saw the marks of tools, small 
pieces or blocks of stone chiseled off by masons. He thinks 
here the immense stones for the Temple, and other magnifi- 
cent structures erected during the reign of David's luxu- 
rious son, were dressed and fitted, every stone being pre- 
pared for its place beforehand, then moved along a shaft or 
subterranean passage underneath the Temple area and ele- 
vated to their places in the walls by ponderous machinery. 
"Hiram and Solomon's builders did hew them in- the stone- 
quarries." So perfectly was the work done that the house, 
when it was in building, was built of stone made ready be- 
fore it was brought thither, so that there was "neither ham- 
mer, nor ax, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while 
it was building." Even to this day the work of the Phe- 
nician masons, when seen, is identified in Jerusalem. The 
peculiar style of bevel in stone indicates the presence of 
that people. Many stones, cut three thousand years ago 
and built into new walls, proclaim Hiram's builders. They 
have been recovered from the debris of old ruins, and thus 
preserved to perpetuate the memories of by-gone ages. 

Let us now return to our hotel, the Damascus, near the 
Holy Sepulcher, which we have selected for a few days in- 
side the city. We have now seen the most interesting sights, 
save the explorations at the " Knights of St. Johns," where 
the rubbish has been removed from around an old building. 
14 



210 Around the World, in 1884. 

I looked down thirty to forty feet upon the foundation 
walls, with its door-ways still standing. It was on the edge 
of a street that had been often pressed, probably, by the 
feet of the Saviour. If these valuable excavations could 
have been continued, many of the wonders of the old city 
might have been exhumed. But the people became alarmed, 
and feared the foundations of the houses they now live in 
would topple in if the work of the archreologist did cot 
cease; and the work was suspended several years ago. To- 
morrow morning I propose to take you on a walk with me 
outside and around the walls of Jerusalem. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Around the Walls of Jerusalem — The Virgin's 
Fountain — Pools of Siloam — Down the Kidron, 
or Valley of Jehoshapkat — Return Below the 
City of Siloam — By Absalom's Tomb — Recross the 
Valley Near Gethsemane. 

TO understand the topography of the city, you must pict- 
ure Jerusalem on several hills, with the Tyropoeon val- 
ley running diagonally through it. This is nearly filled up 
now. Then you must imagine a stone wall, thirty to sixty 
feet high and very thick, running all around it, forming a 
square, or nearly so, with five gates. On the west the Jaffa 
gate; on the south, Zion and the Dung gates; on the east 
are the Golden gate and St. Stephen's gate, and on the 
north the Damascus gate. The Golden gate is closed. 
The west Avail, facing Jaffa on the Mediterranean Sea, and 
the east Avail, facing the Valley of Jehoshaphat and Mount 
of Olives, run along on the summit of precipices and alwe 
deep gorges formed by the brook Gihon on the Avest, and the 
brook Kidron on the east. Beyond the north Avail lie hills 
and plains. On the south of the city is a projecting point 



Iii dud Near Jerusalem. 



of a higji hill, or mountain, that extends to the junction of 
the Gihon and Kidron, far below the Temple Hill. The 
brook Kidron on the east, now dry, flows through the Val- 
ley of Jehoshaphat, curving slightly as it passes, several hun- 
dred feet or more below a steep precipice, at the corner of 
the city wall on Mt. Moriah (Temple Hill), and joins the 
brook Gihon, that sweeps down the west wall, curving below 
Mt. Zion, flowing south-east through the Valley of Hin- 
iioiii (when it flows), until it joins with the Kidron a mile 
or more, I should suppose, below the city. This leaves this 
projecting point of mountain referred to, now cultivated in 
w heat and vegetables, south of the Dung gate, which prob- 
ably was all covered by the old city during Solomon's time, 
one thousand years before our Saviour was born. Along 
these projecting precipices, hills, and mountains, formed by 
these brooks and gorges, are innumerable caves, catacombs, 
tombs, etc., scattered all around Jerusalem. The hill of 
Mt. Zion is the south-west corner of the city, and the Temple- 
area, or Mt. Moriah, occupies the south-east corner of Jerusa- 
lem. These are the two great hills around which seem to 
group the most glorious reminiscences of ancient times. I 
might incidentally mention that a portion of Mt. Zion is still 
outside the south-west corner of the city wall. This is one 
of the localities I desire to show you in my walk outside 
this morning. 

Starting on foot, with my guide, Selim, from the Damas- 
cus Hotel toward the Jaffa gate, through a drizzling rain, 
one of the first things that will attract your attention will 
be your heels. The streets are so narrow and crooked and 
the stones worn so smooth the only safe way for navigation 
I have found yet is on the back of a donkey. They plant 
their little feet between .these stones with unerring reliabil- 
ity. Down one street and up another, we soon reach the 
Jerusalem Hotel. Close by is Hezekiah's Pool, around 



212 



Around the World in I8S4. 




FOOL OF HEZEKIAH. 



In and Near Jerusalem. 213 

which rises the solid masonry of lofty houses. It was here 
David met Uriah's wife and fell in love with her. Pass- 
ing out the Jaffa gate on the west wall, we walk close under 
its shadow, along the edge of the precipice, until we reach 
the south-west corner, and, turning, we are on Mt. Zion. 
We are continually reminded of the times of our Saviour, 
and of customs that existed even in the reign of David. 
We saw piles of grain in the open bazaars before we reached 
the Jaffa gate. When sold it is measured, "shaken down, 
pressed together, running over." The purchaser stands 
close by to see it well done. They use little balances to 
weigh small things. The lepers outside the gate are loath- 
some creatures, sitting from morning till night holding out 
their hands or stubs of arms, begging. Some have lost their 
noses, others their fingers, while all seem to have husky 
voices. Some are blind, deformed, or crippled, presenting 
incurable diseases, hereditary, but not contagious from ordi- 
nary contact. They have no Saviour now to heal their de- 
formities or restore them to sight. They have, however, 
been provided with a hospital, where they are well cared 
for. We see the threshing-floors, the goad, the separation 
of the goats from the sheep, women bearing jars of water on 
their heads, and many other sights common in the days of 
Christ. 

Here on Mt. Zion we behold an old ruin. It is said to 
be on the site where the palace of Caiaphas once stood. 
Here they show the stone that closed the door of our Lord's 
sepulcher, the prison in which he was confined, the spot 
where Peter stood when he denied his Master, and the stone 
column on which they say the cock was roosting when he 
crew. A few yards south is a black dome building, called 
the Tomb of David (1 Kings ii. 10). Its minaret is one of 
the finest that attracts the attention on approaching Jerusa- 
lem from the south. Over the cave, in a large upper room, 



21 4 Around the World in IS84. 

is the Ccenaculuni. A barefooted Arab boy, who came 
running with a great bunch of keys, unlocked the ancient- 
looking door for me. He showed us in this room where 
Christ and the apostles took the Last Supper; where he 
appeared to them after his resurrection, and where the Holy 
Ghost had descended on the day of Pentecost. I saw the 
marble slab on which the sacrament was taken. In a cave 
is said to be the tomb of David. " So David slept with his 
fathers, and was buried in the City of David" (1 Kings ii. 
10). He was buried by his son Solomon, in Jerusalem, 
with great magnificence and all the funeral pomp with 
which kings are buried. He had immense wealth buried 
with him. Eight or nine hundred years afterward, Hyr- 
canus, the high-priest, when he was besieged, opened one 
room of David's sepulcher and took out three thousand 
talents. He gave part of that sum to Antiochus, and by 
that means caused the siege to be raised. (Josephus's An- 
tiquities of the Jews, Seventh Book, XV. 8.) It was cov- 
ered over with a large sheet (supposed to be under there). 
I could not see it. The boy demanded backshish in the 
midst of the breathless awe I had been inspired with. The 
Turks are in possession of this place now; they regard 
David one of their prophets. They pretend to show the 
Virgin's residence ; and where she died, not far off; and the 
remains of Herod's palace. I have observed that all this 
cultivated area before me to the south and south-east must 
have been a part of the Jerusalem of Herod's time, extend- 
ing down to the bluffs above Gihon and Hinnom. Let us 
now look across on some historic ground. The hill over- 
looking the valley is where Christ's death was plotted. It 
is the Hill of Evil Counsel. Here is the potter's-field, or 
Aceldama, purchased with the thirty pieces of blood-money 
the guilty Judas threw down at the feet of the priest. Here 
he hanged himself and fell headlong into the valley below. 



In and Near Jerusalem. 215 

An ancient building now marks the site of Aceldama, and 
some, "bones of the dead are visible deep down amidst the 
stones on its floor." Excavations have laid bare old walls, 
baths, and cemented cisterns as perfect as in the days of 
Solomon. You can see the steps leading down into these 
cisterns, cut in the solid stone. This was probably one 
of the strongholds of the Jebusites that David conquered, 
which enabled the illustrious' king to defend his palace on 
Zion afterward. This hill is honey-combed with graves, cut 
in the suft limestone rock. We pass the Zion and Dung 
gates, and in ten or fifteen minutes we have made the entire 
length of the south wall. We could walk around the entire 
city, if we were to continue, in less than one hour. Let us 
now descend from this high bluff, or hill, of Mt. Moriah 
(Solomon's Temple-ground) by terraced paths to the Val- 
ley of Jehoshaphat, far below me. We sec Jerusalem arti- 
choke, cauliflower, Irish potatoes, pease, beans, wheat, bar- 
ley, etc., growing to perfection. The rubbish from the 
south gate has converted all this mountainous area south 
into a blooming garden. 

We can imagine how solid the old city must have been 
from these aqueducts, walls, baths, columns, etc., when the 
judgment from the eternal Mount of Olives, over against it, 
was pronounced, that " not one stone shall be left." 

Even the present city, contraste I with i s ancient ruins, 
impresses you with solidity rarely seen elsewhere. All the 
houses are of stone. Walls, floors, door- ways, and even the 
roofs, resting on solid arches, are all of stone. The stair- 
way I ascend in my hotel is of stone. "Jerusalem is still a 
wonderful city." In reading the Bible, I always imagined 
Jehoshaphat to be a considerable valley. It is hardly a 
hundred yards wide in places. In the winter season the 
Kidron flows through it. The valley looks like a great 
gorge between two mountains. A short distance below the 



216 Around the World in 188 4. 

south-east corner of the city wall we came to the Fountain 
of the Virgin. It is on the opposite side of Jehoshaphat 
from the city of Siloam. I descended thirty stone steps to 
the bottom of an excavation made in solid rock. Here, it 
is said, the Virgin washed the infant Saviour's clothes when 
a child. I always had supposed that Joseph and Mary had 
fled into Egypt with the ihfaut Jesus. It seems that every 
stone, cave, and spot about Jerusalem is clothed with some 
tradition. I believe these Arabs name places to suit them- 
selves, and I think they invent some of these traditions, too. 
Pursuing our walk down the valley, we come to the Pool 
of Siloam, fed by a fountain that has watered the terraced 
gardens of the valley more than three thousand years. In 
fact, there are two pools, the upper and lower. The bed of 
the latter is dry, covered with olive and fig trees. Near by 
is a mulberry-tree, venerable for its years, under whose 
branches, a doubtful tradition states, Manasseh caused Isa- 
iah to be sawed in two. Both pools are quite near together, 
about three hundred yards below the Fountain of the Vir- 
gin and opposite the city of Siloam. Several hundred yards 
beloiv is the junction of the Kidron and Gihon. 

The upper pool is fed by a subterranean passage from the 
Virgin's Fountain. Dr. Robinson crawled through this 
passage, making this important discovery. This solved the 
mystery connected with the sudden rise and fall of the water 
at certaiil hours of the day in the Fountain of the Virgin. 
You remember Christ told the blind man" to go to the pool 
of Siloam and wash." There are broken columns and re- 
mains of buildings scattered all through this valley. It 
seems every sacred spot was covered once with temples and 
churches. The Crusades became notorious for works of 
this kind in the twelfth century. We crossed the little 
valley and rambled along up on the opposite side. Above 
my head, on a cliff, hung the city of Siloam. We looked 



In and Near Jerusalem. 217 

up hundreds of feet and saw a native milking a cow on a 
house-top. That milk must have been very high. The 
Arab boys and girls came tumbling down the terraced 
walks from these dizzy heights, crying, "Hiwajji! Hiwajji! 
backshish! backshish!" I couldn't feel happy. They had 
more cheek than common boys, even for Arabs, running at 
my heels and "plucking their sleeves," shouting at even- 
step. Siloam is a miserable Mohammedan village, "that 
exists only for the purpose of breeding cheeky boys." 

The Jews' burial-ground now is on my right, up the 
slopes of Olivet. Thousands of stone slabs, with simple in- 
scriptions upon them, m«^* be seen. Selim points out Zach- 
ariah's and St. James's tombs, also that of Absalom. The 
latter is ornamented with semi-Doric columns, the interior 
being half full of small stones which the Jews, for ages past, 
have been throwing in as a rebuke to David's rebellious son. 
Passing near the Garden of Gethsemane, we recrossed the 
valley by a splendid bridge and began the ascent of the 
rugged precipice by a winding path up to St. Stephen's 
gate. AVe stop a moment, about half-way, gazing on the 
spot where this martyr was stoned to death, Resuming our 
walk around the city wall, three hundred yards north of the 
south-east corner, we soon turn along the wall running west, 
pass Damascus gate, Jeremiah's Grotto, and continue until 
we have reached the Jaffa gate. Not far from Jeremiah's 
Grotto, and near the gate of Damascus outside, we stopped 
to study the locality Dr. Schaff and other able writers claim 
is the true Calvary. We cannot believe it. It is said it has 
been an execution-ground from time immemorial, and being 
situated "outside the city gate" on a hill, with suggestive 
surroundings, it is the veritable Golgotha. But the city 
wall, like Jerusalem itself, has been destroyed and rebuilt 
so many times, might not the hill of the Holy Sepulcher, 
at the time of the execution, have been itself " outside the 



218 Around the World in 1884. 

city gate?" I believe in the present traditional spot, which 
is covered by the Holy Sepulcher, inside the present city 
wall. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Ascent of Mount Olivet — View from its Summit — 
Sights, Scenes, and Holy Places. 

JERUSALEM is two thousand five hundred feet above 
the Mediterranean Sea, and three thousand seven hun- 
dred feet above the Dead Sea. Hence the phrase, "To go 
up to Jerusalem." But Mount wf Olives is still two to 
three hundred feet higher than the Temple Hill, separated 
from the city by the brook Kidron. It rises in full view, 
broadside of the city on the east, its slopes still being cov- 
ered with olive-trees, growing among limestone rock. What- 
ever changes Jerusalem may have undergone. Olivet re- 
mains the same. It is intimately connected with the life of 
the Saviour and his disciples, and around its slopes are 
many of the most sacred and hallowed spots. Going out 
St. Stephen's gate on foot, descending the precipice, we 
cross Jehoshaphat and begin the ascent of Olivet. At its 
base on our right is the garden of Gethsemane, on our left the 
tomb of the Virgin. We descended into a rock-hewn grotto 
by twenty-eight stone steps, which we found crowded with 
pilgrims worshiping before the tomb on mats. This church 
looks to be one of the most ancient I have seen, actually 
hewn down deep out of the solid rock. This is the spot where 
the Virgin lay after her death, now consecrated to her mem- 
ory by a magnificent chapel and mausoleum. It belongs to 
the Greeks, Latins, and Armenians, but the poor Copts are 
allowed a little chapel off to themselves. I found only five 
or six of these worshiping at the time I entered. There 
were priests passing in and out the Virgin's tomb, many 



In and Near Jerusalem. 



219 




220 Around the World in 188 Jf. 

pilgrims kissing and wetting its faultless marble with their 
tears, and in front of the shrine sat hundreds of pilgrims 
on little mats, bowing their heads to the paved floor, while 
incense was scattered throughout the grotto, and even on 
their heads, by the Latin priest. 

Around the garden of Gethsemane is a high wall, in- 
closing probably one-fourth of an acre, adorned with lovely 
walks and flowers. I counted eight venerable olive-trees 
of immense proportions, many centuries old, believed to 
have been planted here when the Saviour knelt on this sa- 
cred spot. But I think this is very doubtful. It was here 
that Judas betrayed the Lord with a kiss, and I saw a stone . 
slab that marks the spot where Jesus suffered in agony 
while great drops of bloody sweat fell from his fainting 
brow. The gardener presented me a little bouquet of flow- 
ers, and I procured a number of thorns, in remembrance 
of the crown, from the tree that grows in Gethsemane. The 
Latin Christians are in possession of this sacred spot, but 
the Greeks have built an opposition garden just across the 
street which they claim answers as well as the original. 

Let us begin our ascent by the pathway — now inclosed 
by stone walls — our Saviour so often climbed, and up which 
David fled from the wrath of his enraged sen Absalom. It 
is quite steep, but we reach the summit in half a mile or 
less; ascend a tower, from which a view of unparalleled 
grandeur bursts upon an enraptured vision. The little vil- 
la.ge'of Tur, below our feet, lies scattered on the brow of Mt. 
Olivet in misery, poverty, and rags ; but I look twenty miles 
to the east over mountains of stone that present a scene of des- 
erts, desolation, and ruin, over which seem to hang an impen- 
etrable gloom. We behold the Jordan threading its way 
through its verdant valley toward the Dead Sea. Beyond 
are the mountains of Moab, from whose lofty range rises 
Nebo in its solitary grandeur. To the left is the Mount of 



In and Near Jerusalem. 221 



Temptation, where Christ was tempted, and north of us are the 
lulls of Scopus, from which Titus first looked on the doomed 
city. To the west burst on our enchanted vision the city of 
Jerusalem, over whose beauty the prophets once lingered, 
and the psalmist David and Solomon hung in rapture nearly 
three thousand years ago. How often did our blessed Sav- 
iour, from this very mount, gaze upon these glorious scenes! 
Though she sits in sackcloth and in mourning, Jerusalem 
looks beautiful yet from Olivet. Away over beyond the 
city we can see Mizpah, from which Saul judged Israel. 
Turning a little south-west, looking over the fields of the 
shepherds, I see a city on a hill, the embattled Monastery 
of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. Farther to 
the left is a high mountain known as the Cave of Adullam, 
where David hid from the wrath of the Philistines when 
they camped on the plain Eephaim near Jerusalem. 

We descend now to the site of the ancient church erected 
in the fourth century by Helena, called the Church of As- 
cension. St. Luke says "he led them out as far as to Beth- 
any," which is two miles east of Jerusalem, over the brow 
of Olivet. But under this little domed sepulcher, for 
backshish, you can see the invariable print of the Sav- 
iour's foot, which he left in the rock on ascending into 
heaven. There were originally two of these prints, but they 
.say the "Moslems stole one of them." 

There is another beautiful church close by that commem- 
orates the spot where the Saviour first taught his disciples 
to say the Lord's Prayer. It was erected about seventeen 
years ago by the Princess Latour d'Auvergne, a relative of 
Napoleon III., in the style of a Campo Santo, in which she 
had inscribed on thirty-one stone slabs this memorable 
prayer, in as many different languages, as a "symbol of the 
unity and universality of Christian devotion." There is a 
pretty white monument that perpetuates her memory. En- 



222 » Around the World in J8S4. 

tering the vestibule, my hands, face, and body turned as 
blue as indigo from the reflected light of its stained windows. 
I listened for a moment to plaintive notes, chanted through 
distant corridors from shrines, that fell on my ear in sad- 
ness. It was the voice of a nun at her morning devotions. 
I extended my walk far beyond to the brow of Olivet, be- 
• low which slumbered in its solitude the village of Bethany. 
I shall see this famous place on my way to the Jordan and 
Dead Sea. 

Selim reminds me the hours are growing late; that the 
smoking joints of mutton, delicious soup, pease, beans, and 
potatoes, luscious dates from Egypt, figs and oranges from 
Jaffa, are awaiting me at the Damascus. Returning from 
the farthest brow of Olivet, I stopped a few minutes in the 
ragged village of Tur. A woman motioned to her little ba- 
by, crying, "Backshish" (present); and to induce my favor- 
able consideration of her claims, she added she was a Chris- 
tian. She gave me some specimens of olive-wood, which 
I brought away as souvenirs of my visit. All day I had 
been lost in silent contemplation and reverie on this conse- 
crated mount. There was a charm about its brow that 
filled me with joy. Such views, such grandeur and sublim- 
ity, I had never beheld, even from the pyramids of Egypt. 
The thought, too, that I was standing on sacred ground, hal- 
lowed by the footsteps of our blessed Jesus and his apostles, 
who had once knelt here, saying, " Our Father, who art in 
heaven," impressed me with the gravest solemnity. 

If Jerusalem has changed, "Olivet is the same." If her 
streets have been filled with the debris of twenty sieges, her 
walls and temples overthrown by triumphant armies, and 
her once memorable places lost in obscurity, Mount Olivet 
still stands the wonder and admiration of all the sacred 
mountains that rise around about her. As we ( descended 
its slopes we turned to the left and soon reached an open- 



In and Near Jerumleni. 



223 




224 Around the World in 1SS4. 

ing in the rocky mountain-side. Selim lighted the candles, 
we bowed low and soon disappeared in cavernous depths, 
walking up and down one street and then another, looking 
at the niches and long galleries where the bodies of thou- 
sands were once entombed, but where not even a bone or 
the dust is visible now. The most notable of these tombs, 
cut in these mountains of limestone rock around the city, 
are known as the Tombs of the Kings, Judges, and Proph- 
ets. They probably date from the first century. Some of 
them were very elaborate, protected by doors of stone slabs 
that swung on projections, top and bottom, like primitive 
gates. Then tombs were cut in the solid rock, and the body 
placed in through a small opening for a door. Before this 
a slab, with appropriate inscriptions upon it, Avas generally 
fitted to its place and set up before the door. Against this 
slab a heavy stone was rolled to keep it in place. By roll- 
ing this away the dead man — when commanded "not to rise 
up," but to come forth, and he came forth, bound hand and 
foot, with grave-clothes on — was enabled to obey the divine 
command. It is probable, as Bishop Marvin has observed, 
the tomb of Lazarus and the new tomb prepared by order 
of Joseph, hewn into the rock, where the body of our Lord 
was laid, were of this description. 

Descending, I took a parting look at Gethsemane. I saw 
the spot "where the three were found asleep." I looked 
again to contemplate the sublimity of Christ's self-resigna- 
tion, where he gave himself completely up, crying, "Not 
my will, but thine, be done ! " Below my path a few paces 
I hurried to gather up a handful of pebbles from Absa- 
lom's tomb. When I had reached my hotel to deposit 
them, I was alarmed at the reckless disorder my fragments 
and mementos had been thrown into. It looked for a mo- 
ment as if I should have to label them without regard to 
localities. Some of those Goliath pebbles might become 



By Bethany to the Dead Sea and River Jordan. 225 

mixed with my Absaloms, and these would get mixed with 
those from the sea-shore. They all looked alike. 

I cannot describe the Turkish bath I had dreamed of as 
an Oriental luxury. Like the famous "nargile," it was 
an arrant humbug. I was led down a slippery floor, and 
came near dislocating a bone; yes, several of them. A 
nude varlet then made up a prodigious pile of billowy soap- 
suds and deluged me with them without giving any notice. 
He began to swab my eyes, head, and ears. I started out. 
The room was heating up like a baker's oven. It was dis- 
mal, and most fearfully damp. Then, in this steaming, 
sweltering chamber he laid me on a raised platform and 
wrapped me up in towels. He then went off to take a nap, 
I suppose. But in a half hour I shouted him up. He laid 
away the towels one by one, and then wanted to polish off 
— scrub me up and down. It would have been an elabo- 
rate process. At last I persuaded him off. I took none of 
that Turkish coffee, or "nargile," the poets dream about. 
The whole thins is a consummate fraud. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

By Bethany to the Dead Sea and River Jordan. 

I THINK it would ruin Palestine to build railroads through 
it. Think of a whistle blowing about the tomb of Nico- 
demus, trains arriving and departing from Bethlehem ! The 
Turkish Government has established telegraph lines already ; 
that is bad enough* But this land of the Bible ought to 
be preserved, with its ancient customs, habits, and mode of 
living, as it was thousands of years ago. It would be the 
richest legacy one generation could transmit to another. 

""■Notwithstanding the Mohammedans, or Turks, rule Palestine, 
I learn incidentally that most of the property in Jerusalem is owned 
by Christians. 
15 



226 Around the World in 1884. 

We were to start from Fiel's Hotel, outside the Jaffa gate. 
Our party had already been organized by our excellent 
dragoman. I had but one misgiving — it was the terrible 
horseback ride over the barren hills of Benjamin and Judah, 
that stretched away from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. I 
was just convalescent from the donkey riding in Egypt. 
This might account for so much rambling on foot about 
Jerusalem. Selim believed I was a natural-born pedestrian. 
He had a faint idea that I had walked all the way from 
home, perhaps. Our pilgrims presented an imposing ap- 
pearance on my approach from the Jaffa gate. There were 
nine Arabian horses for nine distinguished tourists, on dress- 
parade. A long cavalcade of pack-animals, donkeys, 
trousered and turbaned Arabs, had already departed and 
were winding over the hills of Judea, beyond Bethany, to- 
ward the Valley of the Jordan. This cavalcade numbered 
more than thirty men and animals. They transported the 
tents, camp equipage, provisions, baggage, forage, etc. We 
had a dragoman, waiters, cooks, muleteers, and one sheik — 
altogether one of the best equipped parties probably ever- 
organized in Palestine. Our sheik was to protect us against 
the lawless Bedouins. This assurance afforded complete 
satisfaction. 

I noticed an immense deal of activity manifest among the 
scientists, artists, Oriental scholars, and the LL.D.'s who 
composed our party. They were all busy examining their 
horses, saddles, etc. In forming a hasty opinion, I should 
have supposed this distinguished party an assembly of 
horse doctors. Each one seemed intent on a critical exam- 
ination of the legs, eyes, feet, and even the teeth of his favor- 
ite animal. At first there was a slight disposition to swap, 
even among several of the pilgrims ; then a high premium 
was asked by others. The most discouraging feature of the 
expedition I saw was the profuse supply of antiquated sad- 



By Bethany to the Dead Sea and River Jordan. 227 

dies, without pommels, with stirrups of different lengths, 
doubtful-looking girths that were being carefully inspected 
and adjusted to the demands of each tourist. For Pales- 
tine, our horses were a passable set and our dragoman a 
Christian gentleman. Mohammed goes along with our lunch, 
overcoats, umbrellas, and such articles as we are liable to 
need during the day, on his favorite Rosinante. The com- 
mand is given. We file away from Fiel's Hotel by ones 
and twos, behind each other, presenting quite a formidable 
array. We are armed to the teeth with umbrellas, walk- 
ing-canes, spurs, goggles, and I suppose fire-arms — but these 
were not visible. The first performance of my Arab pony 
Avas to kick clear out of the saddle, as if the girth had 
broken, planting his hind feet solidly in the bosom of his 
immediate neighbor. I then discovered my horse to be an 
unbroken Arab — a Bedouin of the desert — and, for fear I 
might be deserted, I began to make a few intelligent in- 
quiries about his character. Nobody knew any thing about 
him ; he was just down from Beyroot. The moment a horse 
approached in too close proximity he began to show his 
heels. They seemed to have been composed of India-rub- 
ber, or himself made out -of that material. He had two 
motions — a rear and front motion — that kept him bouncing 
like a ball. We had started from near the Jaffa gate, rac- 
ing down the north wall at full speed, up one hill and down 
another, as if we were running for the Handicap or Wol- 
verhampton Stakes. I passed Jeremiah's Grotto with lam- 
entations, and the Damascus gate like a streak of lightning. 
As we turned the north-east corner of the city wall we ap- 
proached the precipice above Jehoshaphat. Jericho and Je- 
rusalem ! Let us stop a moment for reflection. Our noble 
dragoman, with wonderful presence of mind, had reined up 
his gallant steed. What a gracious moment! Mount Olivet 
and Gethsemane, startling pictures of grandeur and loveli- 



223 Around the World in 1884. 

ness. What shall we do? In the first place, I shall dis- 
mount and adjust my saddle. It is a little chaotic. My 
horse is a reckless vagabond, and would as soon break his 
neck as not. His total disregard of life has suggested to 
me his name. I shall call him Buster ; I am sure he will 
be "busted" before he ever reaches the Dead Sea. Besides, 
it sounds so American it reminds me of home. As we turn 
around Olivet, on the lower road on our way to Bethany, 
we witness many ancient customs that remind us of the 
days of the patriarchs. Every day I have seen the truths 
of the Bible illustrated in the way the Arabs cut their 
grain, cultivate their little fields, tread out their corn 
(wheat) on the threshing-floors ; in their measures, weights, 
the wine-press, etc. We have just observed a shepherd sep- 
arating a large flock of sheep from the goats ; a farmer 
pricking his ox with a goad, which reminded me it was in 
vain " to kick against the pricks." We meet veiled women 
riding astride on horseback, and the poorer ones trudging 
along under heavy burdens on their heads. They often 
carry their entire fortune, consisting of coins made into a 
necklace, around their necks. A bridal present, usually a 
silver coin, is presented by the husband after marriage. 
This is their inheritance they may retain after divorce or 
death. I have been impressed with the wretched appear- 
ance the village children presented in Palestine. They are 
often in rags, and few wear clothing. Crowds of these mis- 
erable little wretches followed us through the streets or nar- 
row lanes of Bethany. They would hold our horses while 
we gazed in contemplation on the ruins of some ancient 
house. Among the most interesting were the houses of 
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. How intimately are these 
associated with the visits of the Saviour! It was here Mary 
Magdalene washed Jesus' feet. I saw the house of Simon 
the leper, and near by, cut in a solid rock, the tomb of 



By Bethany to the Dead Sea and River Jordan. 229 

Lazarus. This may be entered by descending a dark and 
narrow staircase. Bethany is on a steep hill-side, under 
the farther brow of Olivet, above a small ravine, two miles 
from Jerusalem. It is just a quiet stroll around the foot of 
the mountain, the way our Saviour so often walked. Ex- 
cept a few olive, fig, pomegranate, and almond trees, the 
village, with its crumbling walls and towers, in its filth, 
poverty, and decay, is hardly worthy a name. Its glory 
has departed, but its memory will be perpetuated like all 
spots in Palestine — not for any associations to-day, but for 
what they have been, to the student of Bible history. We 
will remember Bethany because Jesus passed here some of 
the happiest hours of his life. It is now the home of our 
intrepid sheik. His horsemen number fifty thousand, I am 
told. I presume he is the most distinguished person living 
in Bethany. Without this gallant Arab prince, mounted 
on his fiery steed, with glittering sword and side-pocket 
artillery, we should scarcely attempt an invasion of his 
dominions. See his red sash and flaming turban ! He has 
no bridle or reins to guide his fearless animal. He waves 
his hand and sword on high, bounding across the ravine, up 
the hill and away, swift as the winds over the desert. Not 
a house did we see, not a living being; no trees or forest, 
with cool, refreshing shade; no fountains to quench our 
parched lips. Mountains of rock and stone, deep valleys, 
gorges, and dry ravines, along which we marched in single 
file and breathless silence, thousands of feet above and below 
us. It sometimes made me shudder to look down into yawn- 
ing abysses that seemed to open their very mouths. But 
what beauty, what exquisite coloring! — whole mountains 
carpeted with gorgeous, blooming flowers, whose tints in the 
glowing sun produce a picture of surpassing loveliness. 

We are now twelve miles east of Jerusalem, and in two 
hours more shall view the Dead Sea — that is, either I or 



230 Around the World in 1884. 

Buster; it would be a miracle for both of us to enjoy such 
a scene. Only a few minutes ago there like to have been a 
funeral. I never was calmer in all my life — perfectly se- 
rene, riding along- in a quiet walk, meditating about John 
in the wilderness, with my head inclined downward. I was 
in the. rear. Buster was performing beautifully. It was 
simply grand to admire his majestic steps. He seemed to 
have been meditating like myself, when all at once — Vesu- 
vius and Herculaneum! — I believe he jumped twenty-one 
feet. My head flew back on my shoulders — dead, I thought. 
I looked up, supposing the Bedouins were coming. My first 
impulse was to " shrink up in my clothes." If they wei'e 
approaching from the front, I could retreat backward or 
sideways, according to the circumstances by which I might 
be surrounded; if from the rear, it was hardly possible to 
overtake Buster. It looked like a miracle to see me sit on 
that horse, with my duster flying straight behind me. To 
my amazement I discovered the sheik with the entire party 
going over the summit of the mountain. This solved the 
whole mystery. All Arab horses are trained to follow the 
lead, and as soon as he perceived them leaving the plain he 
disappeared like a dream. I have since thought, Suppose 
these wild Arabs had attempted to cut off my advance. 
What horrible scenes of riot and bloodshed there might 
have been! Poor Bedouins! Buster would have passed 
over them like a chariot of thunder and fire. After all, I 
should begin to cherish an increasing admiration for this 
noble Arabian steed. These horses are all bottom. I took 
an inventory of Buster before leaving Jerusalem. He 
wears a very peculiar shoe. It is a solid plate of steel, or 
iron, cut to fit the entire foot, with a hole in the center. I 
concluded they were made to slide down the mountains. I 
have not been disappointed. Buster can adjust his legs un- 
der him and slide down a hill. in two minutes. I generally 



By Bethany to the Dead Sea and Elver Jordan. 231 

walk when he slides. I do this to admire his gait. He is 
what may be called a combination horse. 

It seems the Dead Sea we saw from the Mount of Olives 
has entirely disappeared. It seems we are going at the rate 
of one hundred miles a day. We are approaching a pretty 
piece of ground again, just undulating enough to create a 
charming spot for a sham battle. There they go — that 
bloody sheik of ours, who guides his horse by the wave of 
his hand circling round and round with uplifted sword, 
now in his reckless fury charges our gallant dragoman, 
who all this time has lost no ground in dashing bravery or 
noble bearing. Clash swords and parry, and then. at full 
speed again they bound, swift as the wind, their horses 
bring the gallant knights in battle's close array. It was 
worth a visit to Palestine to enjoy this exciting scene and 
battle. It was the finest equestrianship, dash, and leckless 
riding I ever witnessed. Our dragoman, though an Ar- 
menian by birth, is a pure Arab in nomadic instincts and 
accomplished feats' and horsemanship. I thought I should 
be compelled to call in help to hold Buster. He came near 
holeing me in a deep ravine. At another time he was so en- 
thused with the battle he like to have borne me into the 
thickest of the fight. I lived in constant dread of Buster's 
life. It seemed to hang on a thread, like the sword of Dam- 
ocles. From the top of the hill we enjoyed the first grand 
view of the Dead Sea. Every pilgrim who had bounded 
over the plains to catch the first glimpse exclaimed, " How 
glorious, gorgeous, beautiful, sublime, and grand ! What a 
thrilling scene! It is so much like the Dead Sea." Every- 
body goes into ecstasy, and Buster into the Dead Sea, or 
very near it. There is now no time for argument whether 
this is the traditional spot or not. I have no time for re- 
flection even. I am first in and soonest out. In fact, I was 
out before anybody got in. " It is sixteen times saltier than 



232 Around the World in 1884. 

the ocean ! " I exclaimed. My mouth, eyes, and ears were 
gorged, and my "body was evaporating into a pillar of 
salt." I stood for a moment gazing on the reckless waves 
as they broke at my feet. I said these guide-books are un- 
mitigated frauds. When I attempted to walk on the water 
my heels flew from under me, or when I wanted to sit they 
behaved in some indecorous manner. You cannot sink, 
but it is difficult to swim. One of our pilgrims floated 
about like a small ivory island. He was about the size of 
Falstaff. The water is as clear as crystal and blue as the 
heavens; but a deathless silence broods over the scene. 
All around its borders the salt vapors have blighted every 
living thing. I found a few jungles of reeds, stunted 
palms, and acacias. There was a thin coating of salt un- 
der my feet, but the air about it is like a blast-furnace. 
Quantities of asphaltum lie about its shores and emit 
something of an unpleasant odor. It is a sea of death, in 
which nothing lives, but which birds do fly over without a 
particle of injury. Lofty mountains rise on either side 
above it, while it sinks one thousand three hundred feet be- 
low the level of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies four thou- 
sand feet below Jerusalem. It is six times saltier than the 
ocean. It is forty-six miles long, one thousand feet deep, 
and nine miles wide. It is the lowest depression on earth. 
Six million tons of water are poured in daily, yet the level 
of the Dead Sea is continually diminishing. It has no out- 
let. It resembles a great pool left by the ocean. It re- 
ceives the river Jordan near where we bathed. The val- 
ley lies to the north of us ; the sea is at the end of it. On 
its southern border great heaps of salt resembling Lot's 
wife are still seen. Those wicked cities of Sodom and Go- 
morrah stood there once. Not a righteous man could be 
found in them. When I went to mount, I found a wild 
Arab had slipped in from the mountains, unhitched Buster, 



By Bethany to the Dead Sea and River Jordan. 233 

and was holding him for me. He was a genuine Bedouin — 
a reckless marauder, perfectly indifferent to human life. I 
persuaded him away with a little backshish. I gathered 
up a lot of pebbles and left for the Ford of the Jordan. It 
is five miles across a level plain. I saw the Tomb of Moses 
on our left, where we had luuched at dinner. It looks like 
a venerable fortress, with its high walls around it. They 
are evidently afraid somebody will steal him out of there. 
" How came Moses buried here? " you will ask. " The Bible 
says he is buried beyond Moab. ' No man knoweth of his 
sepulcher unto this day.'" "O yes," replies the Arab with 
the big bunch of keys ; " Bible mistaken. You see, Moses 
come to top of that mountain over there." " Yes." " Lord 
says, You stop. Moses stop. Lord thought he turn back. 
Lord mistaken ; Moses slipped down side of Moab, crossed 
the Jordan, and while over eat too much milk and honey. 
It killed him. He is buried right here." We noticed the 
stone from which those beautiful works of art are carved 
in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. 

On our right, as we galloped away, I saw the course of 
the Jordan as it winds between green banks fringed with 
willow-trees underthe shadow of the Moab range. On my 
left rose curious-shaped hills that resemble buttresses and 
feudal castles in mediaeval times. Far as the eye can reach 
to the north stretches away the beautiful Valley of the Jor- 
dan. It is wild in picturesque nature. Flowers, butter- 
flies, the cooing turtle-dove, and plaintive notes of the night- 
ingale, and cranes of faultless plumage, six feet high, are 
seen and heard along the Jordan. There are ravens and 
buzzards too. I saw lizards of gigantic size, snakes and 
frogs in proportion. We stop a moment at the memora- 
ble ford of the river, where the twelve stones were set up; 
where Christ was baptized; where Elijah parted the waters, 
and where Elisha, on whom the mantle of Elijah had fallen, 



234 Around the World in 1884. 

smote the waters and divided them again. Mr. Floyd read 
passages from the Bible descriptive of and appropriate to the 
occasion. But our cherished hope had failed. We wanted 
to bathe in these holy waters — not to wash the salt-brine off; 
I had experienced no unpleasant annoyance from the Dead 
Sea — only a slightly pricking sensation, that gave me more 
pleasure than pain. (Another exploded humbug of the 
guide-books.) The Jordan, where Joshua led the Israelites 
across, is deep and very, swift. It is scarcely one hundred 
feet wide, or twice as broad as many streets in America. 
But it is a most remarkable stream — the most sacred and 
historic in the world. It rises out of snowy Hermon in the 
north, flows through the Lake of Tiberias, descending nearly 
three thousand feet in two hundred miles, emptying into 
the Dead Sea. It -is the only river east of the Nile — the 
only one known or ever seen by millions of people. It over- 
flows its banks at times, but is fordable in August. I should 
suppose the Jordan Valley eight to ten miles wide. There 
are but few gardens — around convents — cultivated now. 
In Josephus's time it teemed with fruitfulness. From the 
Lake of Tiberias clown, the valley is below the ocean. Some 
years eight thousand Greek pilgrims (Russian), the follow- 
ing Tuesday morning at day-break after Easter in Jerusa- 
lem, plunge into the Jordan shouting, and return in its 
praises. They bathe in long white gowns, with black cross- 
es, which are preserved for their winding-sheets. 

It is about one hour and a quarter from the Jordan across 
the valley to Gilgal, near which we can see our white tents 
gleaming in the setting sun. We have passed only one con- 
vent to-day. We can see two others, situated a long way off. 
The whole valley is as level as a table, and if irrigated by 
winding the Jordan around, would blossom like a rose. 
We travel along the ancient way Joshua led the Israelites 
over three thousand years ago. 



By Bethany to the Dead Sea and River Jordan. 235 




236 Around the World in 188%. 

When we left Jerusalem this morning we wondered what 
use we had for that long caravan of pack mules and horses 
that wound away in another direction over the hills. Here 
we are. What' joy, what exultation! Nine beautiful tents, 
nine exhausted tourists. Rest, rest ! What bewilderment ! 
Carpets spread upon the ground. . Tiny iron bedsteads, with 
soft mattresses, snowy sheets, blankets, and pillows, are visi- 
ble in every tent. Overhead are crimson, blue, and gold, 
and all manner of decoration. On each side-table there 
was a pitcher and basin, with soap and clean towels. Even 
little pockets for your book, pipe, tobacco, and pins had 
been provided. The American flag floated above the largest 
tent. Presently I heard a little bell that brought us all to 
our feet. We gathered about the dining-table in the saloon 
tent, each guest being furnished with a comfortable seat. 
Here were knives, forks, china plates, tiny cups and saucers, 
castors, pitchers, soup-plates, napkins, on a snowy cloth. 
More bewilderment ! Then stately Arabs, with baggy trou- 
sers and turbaned heads, filed in with delicious soup, roast 
mutton, roast chicken, coffee, tea, potatoes, figs, dates, or- 
anges, luscious grapes, bread and butter, that brought down 
the house with tremendous applause. The learned scien- 
tists looked at each other as if they wanted to say something. 
Buskin, one of our distinguished nine, engaged the sheik, 
after dinner, in wrestling, or athletic feats, that converted 
our camps into a kind of Roman Colosseum. But the 
sheik came near flooring him on the first round. He evi- 
dently belonged to the gentry of England, but not to the 
true nobility. He reminded me of a story I had read. An 
Englishman and American once met. "Do you have in 
America a privileged class known in England as the gen- 
try?" inquired a London cockney of a genuine Yankee. 
"0 yes," replied the Bostonian; "we have plenty of gentle- 
men in the States." " Wa'al, sir, you do not comprehend 



By Bethany to the Dead Sea and River Jordan. 237 

me; I mean a man of noble birth, who indulges his ease, 
with nothing particularly to do." "O yes," replied the 
American; "we call those fellows tramps in our country." 
Our dragoman, who, by his care and attention, had quite 
won the hearts of all, bid us good-night, assuring us he 
should call at a certain hour sharp in the morning for 
breakfast. It was marvelous to see our Arabs fold our 
tents and disappear as mysteriously as they had come. Our 
party divided now — one part, led by a sheik and Joseph, to- 
ward Gilead across the Jordan, Bashan, and Zaccheus ; while 
the party under Mr. Floyd returned by Jericho and the 
brook Cherith to Jerusalem. I can never forget Joseph, a 
Christian Arab who spoke English and administered so 
considerately to our wants. 

Gilgal is an unsightly ruin now, with a Greek convent 
and an old grape-vine to mark its site. Here Joshua camped 
and sent his spies into Jericho before he invested its walls 
and blew it down with his trumpets, some three thousand 
years ago. The two cities were only a few miles apart. 

The Fountain of Elisha gushes up at the foot of a hill 
below the site of old Jericho. I drank of its sweet waters, 
made so by the prophet in the second miracle he performed. 
The water is as clear as crystal. It is sweet yet. 

I have never seen a better location for a town than old 
Jericho. But the curse pronounced against rebuilding it 
has never been removed. King Herod tried and failed. 
He was buried here. From remains of old Roman aqueducts 
it is probable Elisha's Fountain watered this beautiful val- 
ley once. Up on the elevated plain I could discover but 
few remains. They show the sites of Herod's Palace and 
the house of Zaccheus, but the old sycamore-trees and palms 
are gone. The grand garden of palms Mark Antony pre- 
sented to Cleopatra, with many of the famous balsams, have 
long since disappeared. I have no doubt, for a little back- 



238 Around the World in 188J h 

shish, I could have seen the tree that Zaccheus climbed to 
Avatch the Saviour as he passed by. Back of Jericho I saw 
a mountain honey-combed with hermit cells, on the summit 
• of which stands a monastery. - It is a good place for bats 
and owls ; but I have little faith , in it as the Mount of 
Temptation, called " Quarantana." Gathering up a few 
specimens of ruins from old Jericho, and several pebbles 
out of the Fountain, we were prepared to pursue our jour- 
ney. I culled many pretty anemones and other flowers as 
I rode up the valley on my pony. As we began to ascend 
the 'old road that leads up to Jerusalem, I saw many ruined 
aqueducts and basins, used in the Roman occupation, still 
in a fair state of preservation. As we rose higher and 
higher, the valley, stretching away to the Jordan on the 
other side below Moab, developed into one of the grandest 
pictures I ever beheld. This road had evidently been used 
for wagons and chariots once; but, like all Palestine, it is a 
magnificent ruin now. We met many women astride on 
horseback and men on camels, returning from Jerusalem, 
going beyond the Jordan. The road, or path, was so rocky 
we could scarcely travel with horses. 

We passed the brook Cherith, where Elijah was hid and 
fed by the ravens. We lunched at Hadrur Khan, a famous 
old place with a long tradition. It is on top of a stone 
mountain. It is the traditional inn, I believe, of the Good 
Samaritan, where the poor man who fell among thieves 
was taken in. Along this road Christ passed after he had 
healed the blind man, Bartimeus, outside the gates of Jeri- 
cho. I believe every word of the parable of the Good 
Samaritan. There are many dark and dangerous places on 
the way-side, where travelers might be waylaid yet. Along 
this road many of the apostles have gone, and David once 
fled from his enraged son after he had wept all the way up 
Olivet. This has always been the road to Jericho and the 



Bethlehem — Pools of Solomon and Mar Saba. 239 

Jordan. Roads do not change in Palestine like they do in 
other countries. We understand now what is meant hy "A 
certain man went down to Jericho from Jerusalem." We 
rise nearly four thousand feet in eighteen to twenty miles. 
We now come to a few cultivated fields as we approach 
Bethany; but, excepting the Jordan Valley, the whole coun- 
try we have traveled over the past two days bears the im- 
press of desolation and ruin. If there was any soil on these 
barren hills of rock, it has long since disappeared. There 
are still thousands of black goats driven from place to place 
by these wandering Arabs, who camp and live with their 
flocks as they have always done. I can well understand 
about Solomon having cattle upon a thousand hills. I 
should think I had seen more than that number of every 
size and shape; but no cattle now. Coming round the brow 7 
of Olivet, Ave saw Jerusalem. It was glorious. Here Christ 
once wept over the doomed city. Our journey is ended. 
We have spilled no blood. There is absolutely no necessity 
for an Arab guard ; but they create the demand for the pur- 
pose of extorting backshish out of the foreign travel. Be- 
yond the Jordan each sheik demands a tribute for passing 
through his dominion. It is a shame on Christianity that 
we must go armed in this Bible land. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Bethlehem — Pools of Solomon and Mar Saba. 

I FOUND Selim, my faithful guide, awaiting my arrival 
from the Jordan. Charley was overjoyed at the Damas- 
cus. I was the only guest during my stay. I received 
marks of distinguished consideration, and when I went to 
leave Charley wanted my certificate, which it is customary to 
write on the register. I enjoyed a fine view of Olivet and 
the city every morning from the flat roof of the Damascus. 



240 Around the World in 1884. 

Early on the 23d of March, Selim, with two donkeys 
and a footman (Arab boy), appeared at the foot of my stone 
steps for a hard day's journey. 1 mounted the little brute, 
whose name had become historic in connection with Jesus' 
entrance into Jerusalem, and rode out the Jaffa gate. We 
passed between the lower and upper pools of Gihon, with 
the Hill of Evil Counsel in full view, across the plain of 
Rephaim to the ridge on which stands the convent of " Mar 
Elias." The print of his body is still shown on a rock. 
Here he was fed by the angels, etc. Going south, we be- 
hold here the last grand view of Jerusalem. To my right 
were pretty gardens, vineyards, and fields, highly cultivated 
by the Germans. I saw several fine stone houses of modern 
architecture. An old cistern on this road marks the tradi- 
tional spot of the star that led the wise men, sent by Herod 
the second time to find where the young child was (Matt. 
ii. 1-9). We saw where Elijah slept, the Greeks say, on 
the night he fled from Jezreel (1 Kings xix.). One mile 
this side of Bethlehem, on the road-side, I saw the tomb of 
Rachel (Gen. xxxv. 16-20). West is the village of Beit 
Jala, the site of ancient Zelzah (1 Sam. x. 2). 

Bethlehem sits on a hill to my left, extremely pictur- 
esque in appearance. It has a population of six thousand, 
mostly Christians. It is the holiest of all the sacred places 
on earth. It is the birthplace of our Saviour. Could these 
hills and plains around call up the memories of thirty cent- 
uries, what a startling revelation would be made! You 
would hear the sweetest songs attuned to the harp of David ; 
you would see Saul coming to anoint him king (1 Sam. xvi. 
11-13) while he was yet a boy; you would behold after- 
ward his mighty struggles with the Philistines ; you would 
see Ruth gleaning after the reapers (Ruth ii.) ; the shep- 
herds watching their flocks when the angel appeared to 
them (Luke ii. 8-11) ; the weeping of Rachel over the loss 



Bethlehem — Pools of Solomon and Mar Saba. 241 

of her children ; her death and burial ; the murder of the 
innocents, by order of Herod; the birth of Jesus; the flight 
of Joseph and Mary into Egypt. We proceed to Solomon's 
Pools, one hour beyond Bethlehem. From there we shall 
trace the ancient aqueduct around the hills to Bethlehem. 
A few black goats and olive-trees on either side of the rocky, 
rugged road are all we see. I saw pack-mules laden with 
immense stone jars from Hebron, whose tinkling bells broke 
the deep solitude of these beautiful Judean hills. An old 
fort, used by soldiers and Arabs as a khan, marks the sight 
of the pools. They are close by the road-side, about mid- 
way between Jerusalem and Hebron. Along this road 
David once watched his father's flocks, and sent these stones 
whizzing away in his boyish glee. These pools are three in 
number, built with solid blocks of stone, arranged one above 
the other, at the top of a mountain-gorge. Every stone 
was laid in cement. The pools are fed from a spring above, 
once closed by Solomon's own signet. They are massive 
works of masonry. The lowest and finest pool is five hun- 
dred and eighty-two feet long, two hundred and seven 
broad, and fifty feet deep, partly hewn out of the solid rock. 
There are stone steps leading down from the top. These 
pools are probably mentioned in Ecclesiastes by Solomon. 
Others contend they were constructed at a later date. The 
object evidently was to afford Bethlehem and Jerusalem a 
supply of good water, as the old conduits, traced over the 
hills on the siphon principle to both these cities, clearly 
demonstrates. This aqueduct, or conduit, was bored through 
solid stones, six inches in diameter, and the stones, fitted 
into each other like water-pipes, are joined at the present 
day. The whole of this conduit, then, was laid down sol- 
idly in rubble-work and staongly cemented, which remains 
till this day. There is another aqueduct, built by Herod 
about the birth of Christ, I traced around the hills to Beth- 
16 



242 . Around the World in 1884. 

lehem, running above the pretty little village of Artas from 
the lower pool, which conveys water at present in great 
abundance. Beyond Bethlehem toward Jerusalem it is in 
a state of dilapidation and ruin. You can see remains of it 
near Solomon's Temple. 

It is three or four hours from here to Hebron. I wish I 
could look on the graves of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
and Sarah, Abraham's wife. Rebekah is also buried here 
with Isaac. It is the oldest burial-ground in Christendom 
(Gen. xxiii. 19). It is a double cave in a solid rock, bought 
by Abraham from his heathen friend, Ephron the Hittite — 
" the cave and field of Machpelah." It is the only property 
Abraham ever owned — this possession of a family burial- 
ground. No doubt of this. The Prince of Wales, Dr. Rosen, 
and Dean Stanley are the only persons ever permitted to look 
on these sacred shrines. They did not see the wives. The 
forty guardians groaned when they entered, and then prayed 
that God would forgive them for such intrusion. They did 
not see Isaac's shrine either— only those of Abraham and 
Jacob. A great mosque, similar to the Mosque of Omar 
in Jerusalem, is built over these venerated graves. All 
around it are the dwellings of the dervishes and the forty 
hereditary guardians. The church, or mosque, is very old, 
and they say the high walls surrounding it date from the time 
of David. It enjoys a large income from valuable lands in 
Philistia and in the Plain of Sharon. The entire inclosure 
is strong as a fortress, secured by heavy doors, locks, and 
keys. I believe Abraham's embalmed body will yet be re- 
vealed. Joseph is said to have been removed thither from 
Shechem, near Jacob's well ; all except poor Rachel, who 
sleeps under a little white mosque near Bethlehem. 

Returning by the aqueduct, we soon climbed up a steep 
hill in the rear of Bethlehem through terraced gardens and 
orchards of olive-trees, below which the country spread out 



Bethlehem — Pools of Solomon and Mar Saba. 243 

in greeu fields. The view from the summit, or public square, 
was grand in every direction. We could almost see Jeru- 
salem (but for Mar Elias Hill), six miles distant. On one 
side of this open court, or square, rises the old basilica that 
covers the site of the stable in which the Saviour was born. 
This appears to have been a grotto in the side of a hill. 
You can see similar caves all over the country now. St. 
Jerome believed this to be the spot, and in a room near the 
grotto he lived and died. This was in the fourth century. 
The oldest church in Christendom was built here by that 
devoted believer and mother of the Roman Emperor, St. 
Helena, in the year A.D. 327. Other churches have been 
added to it since by the Greeks, Latins, and Armenians, 
who worship in adjoining convents. I looked up at the an- 
cient ceiling, composed of cedar brought from Lebanon. 
The gold and mosaics that once adorned it are all gone. 
When Baldwin was here crowned King of Jerusalem, in 
the eleventh century, it blamed in all its glory. We de- 
scended into the "Holy Crypt," a cave cut in the solid 
rock twenty feet below, lighted with ever-burning lamps. 
This was the manger, where you look with reverence on a 
marble slab with a silver star, encircled by this inscription : 
"Hie de Virgiiie Maria Jesus Christus natus est" — Here 
Jesus Christ of the Virgin Mary was born. This fact 
seems to have been known several hundred years before 
this church was even built. Joseph and Mary, it appears, 
unable to find room at the tavern, sought temporary refuge 
in this cave. There are plenty of caves in Palestine that 
a fiord protection against the weather, even to cattle and 
horses. The original boards of the manger are shown in 
the Church Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. In a room 
close by is where St. Jerome, a Latin monk of great learn- 
ing, spent thirty years of his life in a few feet of the birth- 
place of Jesus, until his death, A.D. 419, in literary pur- 



244 Around the World in 188 4. 

suits and devotion. The Latin Vulgate, the standard Bible 
of the Roman Church, was founded upon Jerome's version. 
The Protestant translators owe much to the labors of this 
pious cholar, whom they seem often to have consulted instead 
of the original Hebrew and Greek. A column indicates the 
spot in the Church of the Innocents where twenty thousand 
children lie buried (exaggerated number probably), slain 
through the wrath of Herod when he was hunting for the 
infant Jesus. There is the Grotto of the Shepherds and 
the Milk Grotto, some distance off from the Church of the 
Nativity. They are all caves. I descended into the Milk 
Grotto half a mile distant, where the Virgin is said to have 
hid herself before her flight into Egypt. It appears that 
while she was nursing the infant Jesus a drop of her milk 
fell upon the floor, when instantly this cavern turned from 
a dark color into snowy whiteness. It is believed a barren 
woman has only to touch her lips to a fragment of the stone 
and her failing immediately departs. What souvenirs ! I 
should have carried off a side of the cavern if an oppor- 
tunity had provoked me. I purchased of Bethlehem's 
prince merchant, on the opposite side of the public square, 
a few exquisite carvings in mother of pearl, ivory, bone, 
etc. I was seated and served with a cup of delicious cof- 
fee. He informed me he had made an exhibit at our Phil- 
adelphia Centennial in 1876. His son is now absent at the 
Calcutta Exhibition in India. He promises me also to ex- 
hibit at New Orleans at the approaching World's Fair. 
He told me he liked Philadelphia very much; "but boys 
throw stones at me. Yankee come to Hebron and Arab boy 
throw stones at him." I do n't know Avhich is the more 
civilized. After all there is not much difference in boys. 

As I turned down the narrow street leaving Bethlehem I 
passed many shops in which I saw the workmen with their 
lays, grindstones, chisels, etc., deftly turning out the works 



Bethlehem — Pooh of Solomon and Mar Saba. 245 

of art for which Bethlehem is so famous. The women who 
carried their pretty babies on their shoulders, and the chil- 
dren who gamboled about their mothers' feet, appeared the 
most beautiful I had seen in Palestine. I thought of this 
picture of a Christian city contrasted with the revolting 
scenes I had witnessed in the Mohammedan villages of Si- 
loam and Bethany. As we rode east toward Mar Saba the 
pretty orchards of olive-trees, vines, and figs, terraced hills 
and well-cultivated fields soon gave place to the barren rocks 
and desert wilds of Judean hills. We passed near by Da- 
vid's well and the fields of the shepherds on departing from 
the city of Bethlehem. We saw the Frank Mountains in the 
distance, wound up and down and around square-topped hills 
of stone, with not a tree visible or a brook of living water, 
oppressed with such roasting heat, such fatigue and desola- 
tion, as can scarcely be found on earth. Sometimes we 
wind above a gorge one thousand feet along a narrow path- 
way with just a place to put the donkey's feet. My Arab 
boy has trotted behind, and takes great pleasure in belabor- 
ing the little animals on their legs, or occasionally steering 
them by their tails. My donkey understands the language, 
and the Arab comprehends the donkey as well as ever a 
"darky" did a mule in a cotton-field. In two hours we 
came to the dry brook of the Kidron, which extends down 
from Jerusalem. Winding along its dry bed, covered with 
flowers, we soon approached a great gorge, or immense 
chasm, into which the Kidron broke in the wildest and 
most picturesque grandeur. If the stream had been flow- 
ing, its precipitous fall down the walls of the chasm would 
have resembled a small Niagara. The chasm is very broad 
and deep, its brown perpendicular walls on either side re- 
sembling solid masonry. We turned down its lofty brow, 
leaving the main road that extends on to the Dead Sea. 
Occasionally we looked down in the fearful yawning abyss 



246 Around the World in 1884.1 

as we rode along a well-paved road that led a mile or more 
down to Mar Saba. Soon I saw the venerable walls and 
towers of the ancient convent rising before me, presenting 
the most picturesque building in all Syria. The convent 
consists of several chapels, etc., built into the right banks 
or sides of the perpendicular cliffs that overhang the bed 
of the Kidron. It winds around into the ledges of rocks 
a short distance above its base almost up to its very sum- 
mit. It is difficult to distinguish the natural from the arti- 
ficial caves, standing below and looking up hundreds of feet 
above us. There are stair-ways and terraced walks built of 
iron and stone, with hanging galleries that connect the va- 
rious buildings and caves, so you can pass out of one into 
the other. It is a most curious sight to look up and watch 
the monks in their long black gowns appear and disappear 
along these hanging stair-ways into their little cells. I ex- 
amined their churches, chapels, bed-rooms, kitchen, and 
dining-rooms. They were all very beautiful and faultlessly 
neat. I saw a little hanging garden where they had plant- 
ed a tree and a few flowers, in which a number of birds 
were singing and chirping as if to cheer the deep solitude of 
conventual life. They would eat crumbs of bread out of the 
hands of the monks — pretty black birds, with a red spot on 
their wings. This convent was founded by Mar Saba in 
483. I went into his cell, where he once prayed and studied. 
In the seventh century Mar Saba was plundered of its 
wealth by the Persians, and forty of its inmates murdered. 
In one end of the church I was shown the grinning skulls 
of the unfortunates. There are about sixty-five Greek 
monks here at present who spend their lives in prayer, fast- 
ing, and devotion. Like the people of Bethlehem, they 
make ornaments to sell — beads, watking-canes, and other 
souvenirs. I bought a balsam stick from one, who spoke 
to me in French. The oldest monk has been here thirty 



Bethlehem— Pools of Solomon and Mar Saba. 247 

years. They are never allowed to leave the convent after 
they once enter. They are never allowed to see a woman, 
nor is a woman, under any circumstances, permitted to visit 
Mar Saba. Not a smile nor the rippling laughter of one 
of* these dear creatures has ever been enjoyed. Not a kiss 
nor a tear has ever kindled one emotion of sympathy or be- 
guiled a sorrow from their brows. They are exceedingly kind 
to all strangers, extending their hospitality free of charge. 
They live on vegetables, bread, olives, jelly, etc.; they eat no 
meat of any kind. The convent is reputed to be rich in valu- 
able old manuscripts, which I believe they never show to vis- 
itors. They have vast reservoirs of rain-water, which they 
catch in the rainy season (or winter) from the mountains 
above by little ditches. The Bedouins seem to respect the sa- 
credness of the convent, being quite friendly with the monks. 
It is ten to twelve miles to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, or the 
Dead Sea. We ascended a long flight of stone steps through 
several large iron gates that are locked at night, and found 
our donkeys had been cared for, for which we paid the 
monk. As I turned up the brook Kidron toward Jerusa- 
lem I brought a deep sigh, feeling I should not like to live 
at Mar Saba. 

There is no daily paper in Jerusalem to chronicle "per- 
sonals" at the hotels, or the daily arrivals and departures 
of pilgrims. There is not even such a character as a re- 
porter to be found in the city. I had only two friends to 
lament my departure — that was enough — the hotel-keeper 
and my guide. As I disappeared over the hills for Jaffa I 
took a last lingering, farewell look at Jerusalem. 

We arrived at Mrs. Floyd's about 4 o'clock a.m. the 
following morning. Our steamer, from Beyroot to Port 
Said, was due in a few hours. We strolled along the sea 
and gathered up shells for friends on distant shores. I 
thought how delightful, how profitable and satisfactory, 



248 Around the World in 1884. 

had been my visit to Palestine. The Bible had become a 
new book to me. It had strengthened my faith and deep- 
ened my convictions of its immortal truths. The land and 
the Book had been studied together. The one had lent to 
the other an imperishable charm. I could not afford to miss 
Palestine. 

I desire to add my own testimonial of appreciation to the 
following high tribute paid Mr. Floyd by my distinguished 
countryman, the Rev. Joseph Cook: 

Jaffa, Palestine, Dec. 15, 1881. 

After eight years acquaintance with my American countryman 
Rollo Floyd, I regard him as incomparably the most accomplished, 
efficient, and in every way trustworthy conductor of travel in Pal- 
estine and Syria. I traveled in the Holy Land under his advice in 
1873, arid under his personal guidance with my wife in 1881. All 
my prolonged and varied experience with Mr. Floyd has convinced 
me of the entire justice of the really unmeasured commendation 
which, it is well known, has been heaped upon him by hundreds of 
travelers whom he has conducted through the Holy Land, and espe- 
cially by the London firm of Cook's Tourist Agency, of which he 
was the foremost representative in Palestine and Syria for seven 
years. This firm has often eulogized in the strongest language, in its 
official pamphlets and periodicals, Mr. Floyd's honesty, courage, 
intelligence, skill, and success as a conductor of travel, It has 
pointed with pride to Mr. Floyd's knowledge of the Holy Land, his 
extraordinary familiarity with scriptural allusions to the sacred 
places, his perfect command of the Arabic language, and the univer- 
sal esteem in which he is held by the Arabs, and even by the Bedouin 
tribes. 

Acting now as an independent conductor of travel, Mr. Floyd is 
sometimes treated by powerful tourist agencies as a dangerous rival. 
It remains true, however, that the commendations just cited are 
thoroughly deserved, and that Mr. Floyd's eleven years of expe- 
rience as a guide has made him unsurpassable in his department. 
I take pleasure in commending him to the visitors of the Holy 
Land, and I write this testimonial without his solicitation. 

Rev. Joseph Cook, 

17 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 



India — Voyage to Bombay. 249 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

India — Voyage to Bombay. 

AS I said farewell to Jerusalem, I must bid adieu tc 
Jaffa ; but not without feelings of deep emotion. It is 
sixteen hours to Port Said, and sixteen clays from Port Said 
through the Suez Canal and Red Sea to Bombay, India. 
We have been hoisting cargo for six hours. We are load- 
ing with chickens, eggs, ducks, geese, oranges, vegetables, 
broad-tailed sheep, pilgrims, and Nubians. In a month 
from now Jaffa will begin to export her surplus of wheat to 
foreign markets, as Palestine produces more of this grain 
than is consumed in her fertile valleys. 

These broad-tail sheep arc a curiosity. Their tails are a 
perfect globule of fat, eight to ten inches broad. On the 
opposite coast of Smyrna (Asia Minor) they are so heavy 
they are loaded on wheels behind the animal. The species 
are highly esteemed for the immense quantity of lard, or 
suet, obtained from their tails. They are valued equally as 
high for the delicious flavor of their mutton, and bring 
from three to four dollars apiece in Jerusalem. They are 
generally brown and white. The geese and other fowls are 
of similar species to our own. 

If we are to judge the Moslem religion by the number of 
prayers the faithful offer up, we must be deeply impressed 
with their pious devotions. They begin first by standing 
up, always facing Mecca. They bow, then fold their hands ; 
raising them aloft, they fall down and kiss the floor. At 
their shrines, or temples, they first wash their hands; but in 
the desert the Koran allows them to wash in the sand in 
the absence of water. I have been watching two Nubians, 
as black as midnight, going through their devotions. They 
appear to be deeply in earnest, if not penitent, in their sup- 



250 Around the World in 1884. 

plications. They have converted the decks into a prayer- 
meeting. 

On landing at Port Said, I was surprised to learn that our 
polite consul is only paid fifty dollars a year for his serv- 
ices. I suppose the distinction that attaches to the office 
must be considerable. He surely could not live if he de- 
pended on his consulship. He has shown me every kind- 
ness. Caj)t. Broadbent informs me that few American ships 
ever pass through the canal. It appears that our merchant 
marine consist principally of sailing craft, which avoid the 
heavy dues of the canal by doubling the Cape of Good 
Hope. Our ship from Jaffa has proceeded down the Med- 
iterranean coast to Alexandria, while we begin our voyage 
to the East through the canal. 

The Isthmus of Suez is a narrow neck of land connect- 
ing Asia with Africa. Across this, geologists say, the waters 
of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea once united. The 
waters appear to have receded since then, literally fulfill- 
ing Isaiah's prophecy. It seems from history that this is not 
the first canal run across this Isthmus. As early as 617 B.C. 
Pharaoh Necho commenced a canal to connect the two 
seas, according to Herodotus. But the Oracle informed the 
Egyptian king that the northern nations would pour down 
through it and conquer Egypt. However, the canal was 
finished by his successor and used for centuries, down to the 
times of Alexander and Mark Antony's queen, Cleopatra. 
AVhen the Roman Empire began to decline in the East, the 
canal filled with sand. It was about one hundred feet wide 
then, as now. Before the completion of the fresh water canal 
from Zagazeg, fifty miles distant, to Ismailia, it required 
three thousand camels to transport drinking-water for the 
fifteen thousand fellahin furnished by the Viceroy as part 
of his contract in digging the present canal. The French 
furnished the capital through De Lesseps, while the En- 




(251) 



252 Around the World in 188'4. 

glish furnished the money to build the railroads of Egypt. 
Both these nations must exert a powerful political influence 
on the future destinies of this country. 

I heard an amusing story told about the French furnish- 
ing the fellahin with wheelbarrows to roll the sand out of 
the canal. They took every wheel off and carried the wheel- 
barrows on their heads. 

The following letter from Bombay, published in the Tal- 
botton, Ga., New Era, furnishes an account of the remainder 
of the voyage to Bombay : 

"Bombay, India, April 14, 1884. 

" I intended to have given you a letter from Egypt, also 
one from Palestine; but hurried traveling and sight-seeing 
combined have disappointed my good intentions. 

"Returning to Port Said, on the 27th of March, from 
Jaffa, I hurried to the American consulate, at whose office 
I had left my surplus baggage, to ascertain if there was a 
steamer for Bombay. Capt. Broadbent, whose courtesies 
had already placed me under lasting gratitude, assured us I 
had only to be patient a shorjt while to realize my expecta- 
tions. In the afternoon the steam-ship 'Albany ' was reported 
from Liverpool. I hurried aboard, and soon arranged with 
her master, Capt. Gough, a passage for Bombay. Of this 
noble ship and officers we will remark at the close of this 
communication — we can only give you an outline of our 
voyage, and our purpose is to notice its most salient features. 
Port Said is a beautiful little town, situated at the end of 
the canal on the Mediterranean side, containing a mixed 
population of several thousand inhabitants. It boasts of. 
several broad avenues and numerous steam-ship offices and 
hotels. Every ship going east, through the canal, is regis- 
tered here, and generally stops for supplies and coal. The 
canal from Port Said to Suez is cut through the Egyptian 



India — Voyage to Bombay. 233 

desert, eighty to one hundred feet wide, with twenty-six 
feet of water, and measures eighty-five miles in length. It 
has twelve gares, or stations, where ships are stopped by sig- 
nals in passing each other. Much time is often consumed 
in this canal passage, as the length of time required is de- 
termined by the number of steamers or vessels in the canal. 
As many as two or three days have been consumed by a 
single vessel. Five, ten, or more steamers are observed in 
a single line that are stopped all of a sudden at one of these 
gares, and tie up on one side of the canal. Then a long 
line of vessels bound west pass us one after the other, and 
we move on again. The limit of speed in the canal is five 
miles an hour, but through the lakes full speed. There 
are three of these bitter lakes this canal connects, on one of 
which is situated Ismailia. This station is the terminus of 
the Cairo and Suez railroad, and occupies a central position 
between Port Said and Suez. The banks of the canal are 
faced with stone, and sometimes a good sod of grass is grow- 
ing on them. Notwithstanding the drifting sands of the 
desert, whose clouds of fine yellow dust settle along its 
banks, the continual dredging has banished all apprehen- 
sion of its filling up. It cost about one hundred millions 
of dollars, and its stock to-day is worth eight times its orig- 
inal value. It has proved a great financial success. More 
than nine-tenths of the shipping that passes through this 
canal, as far as I can observe, is British. To give you an 
idea of its immense value to the maritime interest of England 
alone, the Suez Canal shortens the distance between Liver- 
pool and Bombay, India, four thousand eight hundred and 
forty miles. We pass out the canal and enter the Gulf of 
Suez ; on our right is the port and city of Suez. We stop 
an hour, probably, on the very spot where Moses led the chil- 
dren of Israel out of Egypt through the Red Sea. This gulf 
is a part of the Red Sea. We get our mail from home — a 



254 



Around the World in I8S4. 




India — Voyage fo Bombay. 255 

letter and the Talbotton New Era. What visions burst upon 
us — home and its hallowed associations! I have read my 
letter and paper over and over again — every advertisement, 
even, has been scrutinized with a searchiug eye. I com- 
mend the Era for its extending circulation as a most excel- 
lent advertising medium. 

"As we steam down this charming gulf of placid waters, 
with the wilderness of Sinai stretching down on our leTt and 
the coast of Nubia and Abyssinia extending on our right, 
we contemplate with rapture and silent admiration the 
mountain ranges on either side. The Red Sea probably re- 
ceived its name from the red hues that radiate on their lofty 
summits, for the azure of the waters below does not pale be- 
low the skies. It was early next morning — I rose for a prom- 
enade on the deck — Capt. Gough drew my attention to Mt. 
Sinai, one of the most interesting spots on earth. The view 
was magnificent. I stood in awe, gazing on this majestic 
mount until it had receded from my view. I thought of 
Moses and Aaron and the children of those favored tribes of 
God, who had gathered about its base. What means this 
immense multitude? Moses ascends to the summit, receives 
the tablets of stone with the commandments, while God 
speaks through him to the children of Israel below, amid 
the lightning, smoke, and thunder that descend from heaven 
upon its awful brow. 

"On our right lies the battle-ground of the present Egyp- 
tian war. There are Suakim, El Teb, and Khartoum, amid 
the burning sands of the desert. The heat must be intense, 
j udging from the thermometer of the 'Albany.' The African 
coast has faded from view. On the left we catch an occa- 
sional glimpse of Arabia. We pass Jedda, the port for 
Mecca, where the followers of Mohammed go by thousands 
every year to worship; then Mocha, from which the coffee 
takes its name. The Red Sea, from the ships stranded 



256 



Around the World in 1884- 




BOUND FOR MECCA. 



along its shores, must present mariy difficulties to the mar- 
iner. Many valuable vessels, with their cargoes, have 
foundered on its reefs and rock-bound coast. Some of these 
wrecks sit on the water, looking as if they were anchored. 
At Jebel Teir and Jebel Zukur, before we enter the straits 
of Bab-el-Mandeb, I counted a large number. 

"Passing through the straits, we enter the Gulf of Aden, 
having traversed more than one thousand miles of the Red 
Sea. On our left is Aden,* the chief sea-port of Arabia, from 
which the Mocha coffee, ostrich feathers, flowers, etc., are 
largely shipped. There is a very peculiar race of black 
men, with red heads, to be seen at Aden. Capt. Gough in- 
forms me of the fact. In two days more we are sailing on 

* Both the Island of Perira, at the mouth of the Ked Sea, and her 
'orlorn sister, Aden, are garrisoned b}' English soldiers. 



India — Voyage to Bombay. 



2o7 




NATIVES OF ADEN. 

the tranquil bosom of the Indian Ocean. We touched our 
lowest line of latitude a little south of Bab-el-Mandeb, being 
twelve degrees and twenty minutes north of the equator, 
with the thermometer at eighty-five degrees in the shade, 
the 4th day of April. 

" Traveling on the 'Albany' is a luxury. We have expe- 
rienced little or no inconvenience from the heat, notwith- 
standing we have sailed within twelve degrees north of the 
equatorial line. Our ship is a new iron vessel, large, well 
ventilated, and constructed on the most approved models. 
It is one of four belonging to David Mclvey, the distin- 
guished member from Birkenhead (Liverpool) in the House 
of Commons. 

"Our voyage has been delightful, with bright skies and 
balmy breezes. The 'Albany' has attained a high rate of 
17 



258 Around the World in 1884. 

.speed under the superb sailing of its experienced and able 
master, H. A. Gough. 

" Capt. Gough is assisted by a steady company of officers, 
Messrs. Tennent, Pennington, and Gibson, first, second, and 
third officers; Messrs. Dinkwater, Hamlyn, and Brochbank, 
engineers. These officers have been navigating the high 
seas since their boyhood. They are very efficient and expe- 
rienced, combining skill with a perfect knowledge of the laws 
of navigation. And they are fine gentlemen, with it all. 

" The stern and inexorable sense of duty that recognizes 
no law higher than its observance, and that shrinks from no 
obligations assumed, distinguishes Capt. Gough among the 
most worthy of sea-masters. He enjoys the reputation of 
a remarkable record and career. At fourteen years of age 
he went, as a sailor-boy, to sea. He is now thirty-eight 
years old ; has served in many official capacities, on twenty- 
one different vessels ; has never lost a ship under his com- 
mand, nor has any vessel he has been connected with been 
wrecked, foundered, or lost at sea ; has traveled on these ves- 
sels more than a half million miles, the longest voyage being 
made in the meantime was from Liverpool to the East In- 
dies and return — eighteen thousand miles. 

"I congratulate Capt. Gough. He is a young man yet, 
full of vigor and splendid manhood. I am indebted for 
some pleasant hours in his cabin, examining charts and 
maps, studying the skill and beauty of his picture-gallery, 
his rare books, with an ear now and then to some delicious 
music from the organ, or swelling notes from his enchant- 
ing flute. 

"I have sat for hours on deck contemplating the won- 
ders of this deep and beautiful Indian Ocean, its placid, 
dreaming bosom, dimpled now and then by a gentle breeze 
that dies away into subdued calm ere the evening sun's last 
golden rays have faded on the west 



India — Voyage to Bombay. 259 

"At this season of the year the prevailing wind is the 
north-east monsoon, which brings 'fine weather and cloud- 
less skies.' The moon, in regal splendor, lights up these 
tropical seas, and the stars, like burning sapphires, are mir- 
rored in their quivering embrace. Not less beautiful is the 
phosphorescent light — when the night is dark— by the side 
of the ship as it glides along, or in its wake when the revo- 
lution of the great propeller produces the greatest attrition, 
'as bright as day.' You can read the finest print by the 
light that flashes from this sea of diamonds, which produces 
a scene indescribable. The flying-fish, which are flushed 
on the approach of the ship in large schools, are another 
source of amusement. They measure from five to twelve 
inches long, having two to four wings each. I have seen 
them fly nearly one quarter of a mile. Of a dark night, as 
many as one hundred, of all sizes, having been attracted by 
the lights on board, have been picked up next morning on 
the ship's deck. We observed an immense turtle, on the 
voyage, and a mammoth whale, sending up a spout like a 
water fountain. Capt. Gough and I estimated the whale at 
nearly sixty feet, and worth several thousand dollars in oil 
and whalebone. Last Sunday we ran through a field of por- 
poises, three hundred yards wide, chasing each other like a 
jolly set of boys. This ocean teems with every conceivable 
form of life. The deep currents from the equatorial re- 
gions are wonderful factors in this general distribution. 



260 



Around the World in I884. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Bombay — Curious People — Sights and Scenes — 
Towers of Silence — A Hindoo Hospital — Ameri- 
can Street Kailway — Off to Delhi. 

WE stopped at the Taylor House, a short drive through 
the Fort, where we found several Englishmen and 
one American. It was during a holiday, the entire city be- 
ing given up to celebrating festivals of the gods, marriages, 
etc. I found Bombay a lively city of more than eight hun- 




11, 



fill 
IF 





RATHER WARM. 

dred thousand souls, on the western coast of India. It is 
the greatest commercial metropolis in the empire, from 
which nearly all the cotton and wheat are exported to Eu- 
rope. The thermometer often rises here from one hundred 
to one hundred and ten degrees during the hot season. The 
exodus to Europe and the mountains of Poona, Simla, and 



Bombay, Ahmedabad, Ajmere, Jeypore. 



261 



Dargeeling begins the last of March among the Europeans,, 
who return in November. The number of foreigners, ex- 1 
elusive of the military, is only about eight thousand, while 
the Hindoos number nearly half a million ; there are be- 
sides one hundred and fifty thousand Mohammedans, and 
nearly sixty thousand Parsees. The latter class are the 
wealthy merchants, bankers, and manufacturers, many of 




GOING HOME. 



whom have amassed great fortunes in Bombay. They some- 
what resemble the Jews in appearance, but are larger in 
stature, and of a bright copper complexion. The Parsee 
ladies dress in silk robes and long scarfs, which they carry 
over their heads and often wrap arojnd their comely fig- 
ures. These people were exiled from Persia hundreds of 
years ago, and brought their curious customs with them 
They are fire-worshipers, and bury their dead in "Towers of 



262 Around the World in 188^ 

Silence," which I shall describe directly. The Hindoos are 
the powerful, dominant race of India, Caucasian in origin, 
of black and light complexions, and rather slender in form. 
They worship many different idols, and burn their dead, or cre- 
mate according to a very ancient custom. They are the de- 
scendants of the Aryans, the oldest race in India. The Mo- 
hammedans once conquered the Hindoos, and destroyed their 
temples and gods under the Moguls (who were the same), 
from the eleventh century to 1857, Avhen they themselves 
were swept out of power by the English army. They bury 
their dead. These are the three prominent native races of 
India. There is another class called Eurasians, highly ed- 
ucated, filling many important official positions on railroads, 
in banks, and the civil and military services of the govern- 
ment. They are the results of the European admixture 
Avith the natives — a decidedly clever improvement. 

"Elphinstone Circle" is surrounded by stately edifices, 
insurance and banking houses, Avith broad macadamized 
streets that rival the most splendid thoroughfares of New 
York City. The walls of the "Old Fort" have long since 
given way to solid blocks of buildings, Avooden and brick, 
Avhere the European merchants conduct their business. In 
every office, bank, and residence the punka is going. It is 
a fanning-machine, which is pulled by the coolie night and 
day to keep down the temperature. It very much re- 
sembles the fly-frame once used in Georgia, Avith strips of cot- 
ton cloth, moved by a rope at the end. In the hotels at 
night you see the naked Hindoos lying fiat on their backs 
with the cords betAveen their big and second toes running on 
a pulley overhead, moving the fans inside. 

Ice is made on machines in India, and furnished at one 
cent per pound. In Bombay the Europeans all dress in 
Avhite linen clothes, white hats and shoes. The natives 
dress according to their different customs, those Avho dress 



Bombay, Ahmcdabad, Ajmere, Jeypore. 2(io 

at all, while the lowest caste (coolies) wear nothing but a 
luin-cloth around their bodies. They wind a white cloth 
around their heads, which serves them as a turban. The 
better classes of women dress in cotton, muslin, and silk 
robes, which they arrange very tastefully and cunningly 
about their persons, drawing the ends over their heads, as I 
have observed, producing an artistic effect. The coolie 
classes wear only a skirt, which is gathered around the hips, 
exposing the body above. Many of their bodies glisten 
like ebony, with long, black, silken hair falling over their 
shoulders that would excite the envy of a European queen. 
Then there are the Nautch girls (naughty girls), who dance 
very prettily for strangers. The coolie women are rather 
delicate in stature, with little twinkling eyes set in full fore- 
heads. They are not handsome. These women make the 
mortar and brick and build the houses of India. They 
cultivate the fields, while the men sit cross-legged in their 
shops sewing and embroidering the finest garments. The 
Parsees are an exception. They enjoy as much liberty on 
the streets and public drives as the English ladies. The 
highest and best classes of the Hindoos never allow their 
Avives in public. They are confined in the zenanas, which 
I will describe farther on. I enjoyed a stroll in the native 
town last night, where I saw the people going to bed en 
masse. Every house was literally emptying its bamboo 
mats on the sidewalks, and even in the middle of the streets, 
upon which the population were descending. They all 
seemed to be undressed, as they had appeared during the 
day. I could observe no particular distinction shown for 
sexes; and as for children, loaded down with jewelry, they 
were without number. I was meditating all the time what 
a carnival for musquitoes was this living mass of nudity. 

You can buy clothing and jewelry very cheap in Bom- 
bay. Both the Hindoos and Parsees are excellent tailors. 



2<U 



Around the World in IS84. 



Soon after our arrival they appeared on the ship with their 
tape strings and sample-books for fits. I was much amused 
at a story I heard about their imitative powers. An En- 
glishman once gave an order for a pair of trousers exactly 
the cut of those he was wearing. Unfortunately, there was 
a patch on the seat, which the cunning tailor observed in 




ORNAMENTS AND JEWELS. 

making the new ones. After he had finished them he cut 
out a hole the same size and sewed a patch on to imitate the 
old pair. Millions of gold and silver are imported from Eu- 
rope into India and manufactured into jewelry. The pas- 
sion for ornaments is universal, a; much as five to ten 
pounds of silver bangles, necklaces, bracelets, rings in the 




PAGODA IN BOMBAY. 



Bombay, Ahmedabad, Ajmere, Jeypore. 265 

ears, lips, nose, and on the fingers, are sometimes worn by 
Hindoo women. I have seen their toes even strung with 
pearls. The mothers are fond of exhibiting their brats 
astride their shoulders, perfectly nude, ablaze with orna- 
ments. One woman was once known to have worn thirty 
pounds on her person, worth several thousand dollars. 

The currency in India is in rupees (silver), pies, and an- 
nas. It requires sixteen annas to make one rupee, whose 
commercial value is fifty cents; and one anna is equal to 
twelve pies, or one and a half pence equals three cents. 
The pies are copper coins. Shells are used for money in 
some parts of India. Then large houses in London and 
Paris have branches established in every important city 
around the world, which issue their notes in pounds ster- 
ling, or francs, that circulate in extensive transactions. 
Very often the English gold sovereign is at a premium in 
India and the East. But gold never circulates; you get 
its equivalent in rupees or notes. 

The city of Bombay boasts of several fine pagodas, carved 
in rich bass-relief, representing monkeys, birds, and other 
objects of worship. The Hindoos decorate their temples 
with little brass bells, which they touch on entering for 
worship. Some favorite deity is usually carved on the han- 
dle. The Hindoos and Parsees use a rosary and beads sim- 
ilar to those of the Catholics in their worship. The Parsees 
profess to worship God, but they pay homage to the ocean, 
fire, moon, and sun. Early in the morning you may ob- 
serve them bathing in the sea and bowing to it, and then to 
the sun. They cry, "O God, thou madest the sea and the 
sun!" They never let the fire go out in their temples. 
The flame is the emblem of the vital spark. A Parsee 
told me he never smoked, because his pipe might go out; 
he never killed a cow, because it gave his babe milk when 
its mother died. The cow was the mother to his child. 



266 Around the World in 188%. 

I enjoyed a fine drive in a carriage to Malabar Hills, 
west of the city. Upon these hills, about three hundred 
feet high, the Parsees bury their dead in the " Towers of 
Silence." These are seven in number, being round, hollow, 
and perpendicular structures, rising twenty-five to thirty 
feet in height. They appear to be very broad on top, prob- 
ably sixty yards across. About two feet below the top, on 
the inside, is an incline downward metallic roof, with an 
opening one foot and a half in the center. There are ridges 
raised above this roof at proper intervals just large enough 
to receive a human body in the groove between. The cloth- 
ing is first removed, and in twenty to sixty minutes after 
the bodies are laid here every particle of the flesh is con- 
sumed by the vultures. I saw these birds in large numbers 
sitting around on the parapets waiting. One tower is 
used at a time, then another, giving time for the bones to 
decay. The theory is, under the disintegrating influences of 
the sun's heat and rains the bones decompose and disappear 
in the aperture below. " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt 
thou return." I saw a model ®f these towers, which the 
priest shows you with explanations. Close by was a temple 
in which fire was burning. The burial-service of the Parsees 
is very pretty. The mourners march behind the corpse, 
holding the ends of a white handkerchief between them. 

I enjoyed a glorious panoramic view of the city envel- 
oped in palm-trees, and the ocean gleaming like a mirror 
below me. I could see many cotton factories sending up 
dense columns of black smoke on the suburbs, and the bay 
studded with its peculiar craft flitting about under their 
"lanteen sails." I passed a magnificent swimming-bath, 
that resembles Solomon's Pools, on top of the hill, where 
the pretty Parsee ladies indulged in swimming and luxu- 
rious plunges. Many of the bungalows, with their broad 
verandas, open windows, and beautiful tropical gardens in 



Bombay, Ahmedabad, Ajmere, Jeypore. 267 

bloom, presented a veritable paradise for a home. Some 
of these homes rent as high as three thousand rupees a year 
to wealthy Europeans — English army officers, whose fami- 
lies reside here until the hot season sets in. 

Returning along the Esplanade, I stopped at the Hindoo 
Burning Ghaut, and saw them cremate the dead. A num- 
ber of furnaces were ablaze with fagots, and oil poured over 
the body to facilitate its rapid consumption by the crack- 
ling flames. The Hindoos are crafty in catching fish as 
well as in other arts. I saw along the shore large pens 
made of stone walls, which the fish came into at high tides. 
These were then closed up and the game brought to shore 
with nets, or caught when the water had disappeared. The 
Hindoo boys were playing base-ball on the parade-grounds 
fronting the bay, running and catching with great enthusi- 
asm. The English play cricket, and indulge in horse-rac- 
ing. They have a game called "polo," they play on ponies, 
very exciting. When the " boom " was on in Bombay some 
years ago, speculators ran riot in boosting stocks on these 
pleasure-grounds. Shares sold at fabulous prices when 
money was plenty, but the collapse came at last, and the 
"made land" that cost millions burst the company like a. 
"South Sea bubble." But this "Back Bay," since Bombay 
has become the great railroad center, is looming up as a 
real estate investment. The English have erected powerful 
compresses along the bay for exporting cotton to Liverpool. 
The bale is reduced to eighteen inches in diameter by four 
or five feet in length, averaging four hundred and fifty to 
five hundred pounds. About one million bales are the an- 
nual receipts at Bombay. 

I visited " Pinjrapole," a charity hospital the Hindoos 
have established for aged animals — the sick, lame, halt, and 
blind — which is liberally maintained by contributions from 
strangers and donations from the society. This institution 



268 Around the World in I884. 

supports fifteen hundred different subjects — old horses, cows, 
mangy curs, and monkeys — which receive the best care and 
medical attention. I saw a regular dispensary and several 
favorites in the throes of death. The superintendent asked 
me to register my name, and showed me great kindness 
during my visit. 

If you want to spend an evening delightfully, the Victo- 
ria Botanical and Zoological Gardens are full of interest to 
the student. One of the most interesting places I saw was 
the Horse Bazaar, where fully five hundred animals, mostly 
Arabian steeds, were on exhibition. Many horses are also 
brought from Australia, and nearly all find a market in 
Europe. Some of the Arabians (all stallions) were bays, 
grays, sorrels, and blacks, with fine heads and flashing eyes, 
broad breasts and well-turned ankles and legs. Prices 
range from one hundred and fifty to five hundred dollars. 
They are brought down the Persian Gulf from Kurrachee, 
and attended by Arabs. 

Elephanta Cave is on one of the islands in the harbor of 
Bombay, about six miles distant. We reach it by a small 
sail-boat, and landing ascend by a flight of stone steps to 
the entrace. The temple is cut out of the solid rock, more 
than one hundred feet long and thirty feet wide, with a 
stone roof overhead, supported by long rows of massive 
sculptured pillars. Formerly great stone elephants stood at 
the entrance, which gave the island and temple the name 
of Elephanta, One of these has been removed to Victoria 
Gardens, which we visited in Bombay. The interior of this 
rock-hewn temple presents one of the strangest sights in the 
world. At one end of a long room are groups of idols cut 
out of the solid rock. In the central group is an immense 
figure with three heads on it, nearly twenty feet high, sup- 
posed to represent the Hindoo trinity — Brahma, Vishnu, 
and Siva. Singular groups stand on either side, one a 



Bombay, Ahmedabad, Ajmere, Jeypore. 



2(59 



Avonmn with a single breast. Ponderous figures guard out- 
side temples or entrances, which, eight hundred years ago, 
when all this gigantic work was first built, must have in- 
spired universal awe in the idolaters of those times. Siva 
is very much neglected at the present time, and has few or 
no worshipers about its ancient shrines. The Duke of Edin- 
burgh and Prince of Wales once visited this curious temple. 
Bishop Marvin and Dr. Hendrix sung the doxology in it. 




AT FULL SPEED. 

Some wealthy native has erected a beautiful marble 
statue to Queen Victoria in Bombay. The Empress of In- 
dia, in return, bestowed the honors of royalty on the loyal 
prince. The American street-cars have proved an immense 
success; but they have been changed into the English 
name of " tram-way." It runs in front of the Taylor House, 
crowded with the natives. Then there is the shigram. What 
is that? A top-covered buggy. Then the four-wheeler, 



270 Around the World in 188 A. 



with four seats and one horse, the body hanging low be- 
tween the wheels; elegant private coaches, omnibuses, ox- 
carts, and ox-buggies in which the jewel-bedecked dam- 
sels drive with their sweethearts, chatting and jabbering 
for dear life. The crowded streets presented the holiday at- 
tire in a gorgeous moving panorama. It is the pairing 
season, when marriages are being celebrated by those given 
in childhood to marriage. The wealth of the Hindoos to 
the fifth cousin is pledged to honor this eventful occasion. 
The bride and groom are overwhelmed with every conceiv- 
able present that will equip them for a fair start in life. 
These festive occasions continue three or more days, and 
they had " caught well " on to Bombay. When I arrived I 
found all the banks closed — impossible to negotiate a loan 
on my circular letter. The English houses and Parsees 
were equally observant with the Hindoos. I should have 
been sorely perplexed about leaving but for the generous 
offer of Mr. Henry Ballantyne, an American merchant 
here, who loaned me all the currency I needed, and took 
my plain note, payable several weeks hence in Calcutta. 
Say what you please, we are Americans abroad if not at 
home. Mr. Ballantyne is a gentleman of distinction and a 
son of a Boston missionary, born in India, if I am not 
mistaken. Before my departure he showed me much kind- 
ness, as he spoke the native languages fluently. With him 
I saw the glorious bam^n-tree, with its tendrils drooping to 
the ground, taking root and forming a grove of trees. He 
showed me the palatial edifices and public buildings of 
Bombay, and told me much about cotton, its culture and 
history in India. 

I left Bombay by the B. B. Bailroad to Ahmedabad, 
three hundred and ten miles distant. From here the main 
line runs across the peninsula to Allahabad, where it inter- 
sects the great East India system, running north to Delhi 



Bombay, Ahmednbad, Ajmere, Jeypore. 271 

and south down the Ganges Valley to Calcutta. But "we 
are going into North-west India, and must change cars at 
Ahmedabad to the Rajputana Malway Railway, a narrow- 
gauge road that has recently been extended to Delhi, eight 
hundred miles or more still farther to the north-west. So 
we have nearly twelve hundred miles of constant travel be- 
fore us to reach the famous old capital of the Moguls, much 
of the road traversing a dreary, arid desert. 

We pass for hundreds of miles up the Bay of Cambay, 
whose placid waters now and then gleam through the feath- 
ery plumage of the cocoa-nut palms. We look across well- 
cultivated fields studded with the mango-tree, whose deli- 
cious fruit is now ripening under a foliage that resembles 
an apple-tree. How the monkeys, in their native land, 
scamper away in troops on the approach of our train ! At 
the stations they will approach you and almost eat out of 
your hands. I saw a group near the city of Baroda sitting 
erect facing each other as if they were discussing some 
grave philosophical question. They were of a large gray 
species, with long pendent tails. In an instant they went 
bounding away over the fields with their "tails over the 
dash-boards," up some tall mango-trees. I suppose they 
had been discussing some future family arrangements. I 
heard they were consummate thieves, and stole every thing 
they could lay their hands on. Yet the Hindoos worship 
the monkey. He is one of their favorite gods. They have 
erected temples in his honor, and show him great distinction 
in bestowing favors. 

Bombay is in seventeen degrees north latitude. As we go 
north we rise higher and higher, but the heat is intense. 
The country is perfectly level for three hundred miles or 
more, planted in rice, sugar-cane, oats, barley, sorghum, 
dhoura corn, vegetables, etc. About every station the En- 
glish plant flowers and lay out gravel walks, bordered with 



272 Around the World in I884. 

geraniums, fuchsias, roses, and evergreens. The flora is 
gorgeous and brilliant. The flaming .flamboyant is always 
conspicuous in India. The most delicious mangos, bananas, 
pines, and cocoa-nuts grow in profusion. They are remark- 
ably cheap: a bunch of bananas for five cents, cocoa-nuts 
two cents each, other fruits nominal. 

The birds of India are no less beautiful for their plum- 
age and attractive in song. Like the monkeys, they are so 
gentle they will hardly fly on your near approach. The 
Hindoo never shoots a bird, nor are the nests or young 
robbed by bad boys. Many of the birds are held in sacred 
veneration. The adjutant cranes are a great curiosity. 
They stand in the fields, gardens, or on the house-tops for 
hours, on their slender legs, watching, almost motionless. 
If you pass by them they turn their eyes around at you. 
The English soldiers have a way of tying bits of meat to- 
gether with several yards of cord between. The cranes 
gobble these down and attempt to rise, "one aiming for a 
tree, another for a house-top." Pulling and fluttering, they 
soon lose their balance, then their breakfast, and, tumbled 
in confusion, pull the first one down. 

We had changed cars at Ahmedabad for Delhi, and the 
second day had put many dreary wastes between us and the 
rich alluvial lands we had left behind us. Occasional patches 
of wheat appeared along the road, with a well on each acre 
for irrigating. The water is raised by a bucket, rope, and 
bullock. The bullock walks down an incline plane from 
the well, and when the large bucket empties itself he walks 
back and it descends. All crops are planted in drills, and 
the water is conducted in little trenches between. 

We passed Ajmere, six hundred and fifteen miles from 
Bombay. Here is Mayo College, where the young princes 
of the Rajputana States are educated. It is an object of great 
interest and architectural beauty. The country grows rocky 




(272) 



THE MONKEY IN HJS NATIVE JUNGLE. 



Bombay, Akmedabad, Ajmere, Jeypore. 273 

and barren again, with scrub and grass that are rapidly 
disappearing before the increasing heat of the sun and the 
bite of the roaming herds of buffalo, cattle, goats, and don- 
keys that have begun already to browse on the foliage of 
the trees. The dry season must continue for some time yet 
— until the monsoon rains begin in June. 

I saw a number of jackals that sometimes approached 
very near our train. They resemble a gray fox in some 
respects, with drooping tail and little sharp ears. They re- 
minded me of a sneaking cur. They are the deadly ene- 
mies of the Mohammedan grave-yards. Troops of voracious 
wolves are no less numerous in North-west India. Their 
howls can be heard in the distant jungles. They are very 
destructive to young lambs and goats, but the natives em- 
ploy an ingenious method in trapping them, which is seen 
by the illustration on the next page. - 

I saw many very small deer, which turned their pretty 
heads toward us as we thundered by. Some of them did not 
even start to their feet, but stood grazing ; many not larger 
than a fox-hound in Georgia. On either side were rugged 
mountains and wild, picturesque scenes. 

We are approaching Jeypore, the most beautiful city in 
India, famous for its pretty gardens and charming walks 
and drives. It has one street running through it, two miles 
long and forty yards wide, that is a marvel of symmetrical 
beauty. The city owes much of its splendor to the late 
Maharajah, who spent four laks of rupees ($200,000) on 
its adornment. The garden of the palace is extremely 
lovely. 

In a pretty little valley north-east of the city is the 
capital of the State, the decayed city of Amber. We ride 
out on elephants, in true Oriental grandeur. If you can 
imagine yourself a rajah (native prince), with his gorgeous 
equipage, footmen, and attendants, you will have the grand- 
18 



274 



Around the World in 1SS4. 




ENTRAPTTNG WOLVES IN NORTH-WEST INDrA. 



Bombay, Ahmedabdd, Ajmere, Jeypore. 275 



est conceptions of this journey. The old city is embosomed 
in a valley surrounded by lofty hills, on the banks of a 
charming lake, above which rises the vast and imposing 
Palace of Amber. Bishop Heber viewed the landscape 
from its summit once, and declared it to be the most strik- 
ing and picturesque scene he had ever beheld on earth. 
Above the palace is the zenana, and higher still, from the 
top of the mountain, rose the gloomy old castle with its an- 
cient towers. 

I like Jeypore. There is so much style about it. On 
my arrival this moruing I witnessed several ludicrous and 
amusing scenes. I was reminded of the palmy days of our 
republic when I beheld pearly a dozen Hindoos bowing and 
scraping before two English soldiers who had disembarked 
here. They were all offering their valuable services. Three 
or four were elevating the two grip-sacks on the two-horse 
dak, the guns were being carefully handled and placed 
away by two more of these ebony coolies, while the imper- 
sonation of Chesterfield himself stood at both doors waving 
the soldiers in. This was not all : there were a couple of 
fellows to run ahead to clear the way so the English pri- 
vates, with their imposing retinue, could pass. The impress- 
iveness of this whole ceremony would remind you of the 
Czar's entry into Moscow. I am only too sorry I cannot re- 
produce a pictorial illustration of this spirited scene, which 
should have been dramatized for the burlesque opera. 

I have often heard about women wearing the breeches in 
my own country. I have actually seen two of these mon- 
strosities at Jeypore. They had pantaloons on and babies 
in their arms. It was such a marked improvement on those 
girls' toilets down about Bombay that I was startled at their 
personal appearance. It was such extravagance, such a reck- 
less waste of cloth, I concluded they must be people of wealth. 

As Jeypore — with its royal gardens, its palaces and works 



276 Around the World in 188Jf. 

of art, faded on my view, the soft, sweet notes of the mock- 
ing-bird woke rne from delicious reveries of Oriental beauty 
to thoughts of home, sweet home. I saw an ox-team loaded 
with cotton going toward Jeypore, which too bore a charm 
about it that reminded me of home. We passed over peb- 
bled brooks and dry bottoms of rivers, across a beautiful 
plain from which a crop of wheat had been taken. To my 
right I saw a little city embosomed in luxuriant foliage, 
from which ran down to the station a broad, grand avenue, 
crowded with the natives who were coming or had arrived 
to meet our train. " Five minutes at Reware for refresh- 
ments ! " shouted the guard. The station-master passes along 
tapping every wheel to see that none are broken, and behind 
comes the lubricating man, while I strolled leisurely about, 
with thoughts pensively turning to objects of love. I was 
just beginning to admire the quiet little town of Reware, 
its good order, its broad avenues of interlacing trees, the 
coquetry of its pretty maidens, and the prospect of a mother- 
in-law, Avhen some thoughtless jnrate screamed out, "Sec- 
ond-class coffee here, gentlemen ! Come right this way ! " 
I felt like pulverizing that heathen. I was almost tempted 
to destroy him. They have got the coffee classified here 
according to the cars you ride in. This coffee must have 
been about fifth-class. Caste and class are ruling passions 
in India. It seems I have completely lost my identity. I 
have seen so many stove-pipe Parsees, Hindoos, and tur- 
baned Mohammedans, grades, distinctions, and different col- 
ors, I sometimes wonder while traveling whether this is me 
or somebody else. I am getting alarmed about my nation- 
ality. I shall take a census of myself when I arrive at 
Delhi. I forgot to mention my traveling companion from 
Ajmere. It was really refreshing to meet a Jew away off 
here in India — a relative of the Wandering Jew, perhaps. 
It made me feel so familiar. He was Hungarian, Hindoo, 




A STATE PROCESSION IN INDIA 



Features of British India,. 277 

or any thing else to sell his jewelry. In Georgia he would 
be called a commercial tourist; but in Raj pu tana a ped- 
dler. Like the English, he had come out to India too to 
make his fortune. He had a fine collection of goods, and 
one servant, with opera-glass. We stopped, at the Dak 
Bungalow, near the post-office, kept by natives in first-class 
style. I enjoyed an excellent bath in a tub on a stone floor 
Next morning I awoke to find my room full of birds. They 
were chirping, singing, and feeding their young. Several 
hopped in and out the door with great familiarity. I could 
have opened an aviary, or side-show, on short notice. I 
heard the pesky crow outside, cawing, as usual. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

British India — Population — Railroads — Influence 
on Development — Schools — Zenana Mission, etc. 

BRITISH INDIA consists of nine provinces, with a total 
population of one hundred and eighty million. It is 
about two thousand miles long and one thousand five hun- 
dred miles in width. On the west is a coast range, known 
as the Ghauts, while far to the north rises the lofty Him- 
alayas, the highest in the world, lifting their "snowy peaks 
above the Vale of Cashmere." 

For two hundred years nearly the wealthy East India 
Company governed much of the country with a despotic 
hand. It kept standing armies and garrisoned forts. It 
acquired by power and purchase an extensive domain after 
it had once obtained a foothold. After the Sepoy rebellion 
in 1857, England gradually came into full possession and 
control, until 'some years later the present Queen was de- 
clared the Empress of India. The whole country is now 
governed by a Viceroy, or Governor-general, who is ap- 



278 Around the World in 188 '4. 

pointed or removed at her pleasure. It is divided into four 
presidencies — Bombay in the west, Bengal in the east, Pun- 
jab in the north-west, and Madras in the south. Think of 
seventy-five thousand Englishmen holding in subjection one- 
sixth of the entire population of the globe ! The power of 
England is one of the marvels of history. 

In 1612 the first factory was established at Surat, north 
of Bombay. No other port was opened until 1662, "when 
Catherine of Portugal presented to Charles II. Bombay, 
as a small item in her dowry." In 1698 the East India 
Company purchased Calcutta to control the Valley of the 
Ganges. Caste and the Mohammedan rule so degraded the 
country that it finally fell an easy victim to British power. 
At present the country enjoys an annual revenue of $45,000,- 
000 or more from opium. It exports more wheat than any 
other country, except America. It is second in the produc- 
tion of cotton. It exports largely of indigo, hemp, jute, and 
gunny bagging. The Governor-general receives a salary of 
$125,000 per annum, besides $50,000 to entertain his guests, 
and other allowances. His six Counselors get $40,000 each, 
and the Lieutenant-governor $50,000. The Secretaries re- 
ceive $24,000 each per annum. For educational purposes 
$3,370,000 is annually paid to enlighten its teeming mill- 
ions, while $700,000 is paid the English Church in India. 

Up to 1853 the only conveyances were bullock-carts, daks, 
and palanquins. These last conveyances were borne on 
men's shoulders along paths through the country. The 
only two great rivers, the Ganges and Indus, are navigable 
for large boats about half the year. 

When the project of constructing railroads was first agi- 
tated everybody said it would be a failure on account of 
religious prejudice, which forbids the intermingling of the 
different castes. The work was begun in 1853, by private 
companies, the Government aiding them by a grant of land 



INDIA 




(279) 



280 Around the World in 1884. 

for ninety-nine years, and also five per cent, interest on the 
money spent in construction. All income was to be paid 
into the public treasury. If there should be a surplus after 
paying back the five per cent, advanced from the net earn- 
ings of the roads, first deducting current expenses, one-half 
of it was to be divided among the stockholders and the other 
half went to the Government. " When all arrearages were 
paid the companies were to receive ten per cent. ; but should 
the income exceed that rate the authorities should have 
power to lower the fares." At the end of ninety -nine years 
the property reverts to the Government, and it pays back 
the original cost. 

First, short lines to Surat, Baroda, and Ahmedabad were 
laid, and now it is estimated no less than ten thousand miles 
are in operation throughout the Empire. Many miles cost 
$85,000 each. The gauge is about five feet, with steel rails, 
laid in stone or ballast, over iron bridges, and many miles 
on iron cross-ties. The ants are so destructive to wood it is 
probable all the roads will adopt the iron ties, or some nec- 
essary precaution to protect them. 

The Hindoos were employed as laborers at ten cents a 
day. They were paid off every night to insure confidence, 
men and women alike working together. They carried out 
the dirt for fillings and from excavations in baskets on their 
heads. One of the contractors furnished several thousand 
wheelbarrows; but he went out in a few days and, to his 
dismay, found "all his hands carrying them on top of their 
heads" — the force of old customs. 

The East India is the Pennsylvania Central, or the Geor- 
gia Central, of India — one of the greatest roads in the world. 
It has a five-foot six-inch gauge 3 makes its own oil, mines 
its own coal, manufactures its rolling-stock, and declares a 
net dividend of five per cent, on its capital stock. It con- 
trols about two thousand miles of way. Its main line run? 



Features of British India. 



281 




HARD WORK. 

down the Gauges from here to Calcutta, one thousand miles, 
with branch lines to Jubbulpore and other cities. The com- 
partment system — the same described in Europe — with four 
classes, is adopted in India. The third class is oue cent per 
mile, and fourth class seventy-five cents per hundred miles. 
It works like a charm among the Hindoos. When the 
cars first began to run the natives fell down and worshiped 
them. They regarded the power of the engine as super- 
natural. The cars have well-nigh broken down caste. It is 
amusing to watch the high caste (Brahman) priests get in 
the third-class cars with the poor, dejected Pariah, whose 
shadow he would have forbid crossing his threshold twenty 
years ago. I saw a veiled woman, borne on a palanquin, 
placed in one of these compartments one day. She was 
completely shrouded in a white sheet. I procured a seat 
near by, and watched her for twenty miles or more. After 
my patience was nearly exhausted waiting, I saw her look 
through a little crack at me. The Bible, railroads, and 
heavy cannon are blazing the highways for the spread of 
the gospel in the far East. 



282 Around the World in 188 4. 

Secular and Sunday schools are doing a wonderful work 
in India. The Hindoos find there is prosperity and wealth 
in learning the English language. They get higher wages. 
Formerly they prayed to their gods for such favors, but 
they find that thrift and industry bring remunerative re- 
turns to those who have no faith in idols. The manufact- 
ured deities that once sold so rapidly at their festivals on 
the banks of the Ganges, in honor of their god Durga, 
now find few if any purchasers. Outside the Government 
and missionary schools, about twenty-four years ago a so- 
ciety of American women, called the "Zenana Mission," 
was organized to elevate the women of India. The best 
classes of Hindoo women, once married, become the inmates 
of the zenanas — prison-houses — for life. One of them is 
never allowed to see any person except her husband and as- 
sociates. Here she lives, rears her children, and dies. She 
has no knowledge of sewing, knitting, or embroidery. She is 
literally a slave to the passions of her husband, who never 
trusts her to see even his most intimate friend. If her hus- 
band dies she is despised by all. Better if she had cast her- 
self upon the funeral-pile and perished rather than endure 
the eternal shame that overwhelms her as a widow. If she 
dies her husband marries again. The suttee is no longer per- 
mitted in British India ; the Government abolished it years 
ago. But in Nepaul, and other native States, it is still 
practiced with all its revolting horrors. 

It is a most unfortunate event for a woman to be barren, 
and especially not to bear boy children, as her husband is 
in consequence allowed to marry another woman. You 
see a little girl on the street, five or six years old, with a 
red spot between her eyes, or red string tied around her 
neck. She is betrothed. Some little boy she has never 
seen is to be her future husband. It may be she does not 
know his name. The marriage is celebrated by a street pag- 



Features of British India. 283 

eant that represents the little bridegroom in a triumphal 
car, or borne in a palanquin amid the shouts of the wed- 
ding procession, music, and flowers; and from that day she 
wore the red spot, or string, as an emblem of her betrothal. 
Suppose her little husband should die without her ever hav- 
ing seen him. She cannot marry again, but must live in 
solitude and mourning the remainder of her life. If he 
lives, in a few years later she is taken to her husband's 
home and becomes his wife without further ceremony. 
Girls in India often become mothers at ten to twelve years 
of age. 

" What is a zenana?" I have said it Avas a prison-house, 
where the wives of the best classes in India are confined. 
It is usually a large building, with separate apartments, in 
which each family resides, with a large court, or open space, 
in the center, where the mothers, with their children, may 
find exercise or recreation. There is ventilation, but no 
windows. They cannot even look in the starry dome of 
heaven, or see the sun rise and set. The entire structure is 
surrounded by a high Avail that resembles a fortress. Usu- 
ally members of the same family occupy a building. Into 
these vast structures the missionary Avomen haA r e been ad- 
mitted of late years. Here they are teaching the Avomen 
Iioav to sew and embroider, and their children the sweet 
story of Jesus. They are taught to read our Bible in their 
language, in Avhose study they find comfort and relief. 
Many of the native women are educated for teachers, and 
often, in the schools at Calcutta, ''the children themselves 
teach their oavu unhappy mothers," observes Dr. Hendrix. 
I regard this Avoman's AA'ork as one of the most promising 
fields for missionary labor in India. 



284 Around the World in 1884. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Hindoos: Their History, Literature, and Phi- 
losophy — The Hindoo Bible, etc. 

WE look back into the shadowy ages of the.m} T stie past 
of fable, story, and romance for the origin of this an- 
cient race. I find some of the original tribes still exist — 
the Pariahs, Mai as, Domes, and Koles. The word "coolie" 
is derived from the last name. The present Hindoo race 
bear some analogy to the aborigines, but differ in many of 
their striking characteristics, customs, and habits of life. 
The Hindoos are divided into castes, while the aborigines 
observed no distinctions. The Hindoos will not . eat beef; 
the aborigines eat every thing. The religion of the Hin- 
doos forbids the use of spirituous liquors ; the aborigines 
get drunk to this day. The Hindoos burn their dead ; the 
primitive races bury theirs. Three thousand years ago the 
Hindoos were advanced in learning, science, art, and phi- 
losophy; the aborigines have advanced little in civilization, 
being nomadic, like the American Indians. 

The Rig Veda — the Hindoo Bible — consists of four books, 
and contains about one thousand hymns, considered among 
the oldest writings in the world. From these hymns we may 
infer the Aryans, from the mountains of Persia, settled in 
the Indus Valley before the time that the Israelites left the 
land of Goshen. 

"We see houses in India to-day the models of three thou- 
sand years ago. " The Aryans lived in tents, but they found 
a people living in houses. These people lived in villages, 
and worked in iron, copper, and gold. They had no caste, 
but ate together. Their women spun and wove, and were 
the light of the house." (Coffin.) 

It was about the time Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem 



Hindoo History and Character. 



285 



and carried its people into captivity to Babylon that the 
Brahmans set themselves up into a priesthood ; and through 
them caste was first established. There are four distinct 
castes and about forty or more different shades, I think, at 
present in India. The originals, set up by the Brahmans, 
placed themselves or the priests at the head of the list; 
next soldiers, merchants, and sudras. Every trade has its 
castes — blacksmiths, carpenters, barbers, goldsmiths, tailors, 
fishermen, shoe-makers, etc. The carpenter is disgraced by 




HOUSE IN INDIA. 

coming in contact with the herdsman, the tailor with the 
tanner. There is no intermarrying of castes. If a man 
was dying for a drink of water he would not take it from a 
cup used by one of a lower order, observes the Rev. C. C. 
Coffin. If he was drowning he could not save his life. 
The son must always follow the profession of his father, and 
his sister must not marry outside her caste. A high caste 
Brahman may make a low caste woman his mistress, but 
not his wife; he would never get to heaven if he did. 



286 Around the World in 1884. 

Caste is the ruling spirit in life or death. The Brahmans 
were a very learned sect. After poetry came a period of 
speculative philosophy that divided up into many schools. 
One school reasoned on knowledge that comes from the five 
senses; another on the methods of inquiry, logic, and jus- 
tice, or a system of realism ; the third was pantheistic, con- 
tending for one immortal, self-existent Brahma, the soul 
and substance of all matter. All these schools believed in 
the transmigration of souls. The Yoga philosophy teaches 
that immunity from pain, sorrow, and remorse can be ob- 
tained by concentrating the mind in intense thought on 
nothing. The person is supposed to be in a meditative 
mood, with eyes turned into space. Such concentration se- 
cured perfect contentment. This seems a plausible philos- 
ophy, and shows that many people nowadays ought to be 
perfectly happy. 

I am deeply indebted to the Rev. Carleton Coffin, whose 
charming book of travels has greatly interested me. From 
the "Light of Asia," by Dr. Arnold, a learned Oriental 
scholar, and once principal of Deccan College at Poona, 
we learn that four hundred and seventy million of our race 
live and die in the tenets of Gautama, the founder of Bud- 
dhism, who was born in Nepaul, India, 620 B.C. Its sub- 
lime teachings have been ineffaceably stamped upon modern 
Brahmanism. More than one-third of mankind owe their 
religious and moral ideas to this illustrious prince. 

"It seems at least," says Dr. Arnold, "that Buddhism 
is the fruits of considerable study, or a third of the human 
race would never have been brought to believe in blank 
abstractions." The doctrine of transmigration, so startling 
to modern minds, was accepted by the Hindoos during Bud- 
dha's times. 

I make a few quotations from the " Iliad of India," now 
translated for the first time by Dr. Arnold. The proverbs 



Hindoo History and Character. 287 

of the Hitopadesa bear the greatest antiquity. In these 
two epic poems, called the "Iliad," descriptive of a jour- 
ney of two young princes and their entrance into heaven, a 
beautiful fable of constant fidelity is contrasted with the 
Hindoo representations of death and love. 

The gate of heaven opens to none alone 

Save thou one soul, and it shall save thine own. 

The stories, songs, and ballads, the histories and genealo- 
gies; the art, learning, and philosophy; the creeds, moral- 
ities, and even modes of thought, expressions, and daily 
ideas of the Hindoo people are taken from these poems. 
Even their children and wives are named out of them — their 
cities, streets, temples, and domestic animals. They are the 
newspaper, Bible, and library to countless millions of Indian 
people. In these two mighty poems are contained all the 
history of ancient India. A concluding paragraph says : 

"The reading of the 'Mahabharata' destroys all sin and 
produces virtue; so much so that the pronunciation of a sin- 
gle shioka is sufficient to wipe away much guilt. It contains 
also a history of the gods of the kishis in heaven and those 
on earth of the grand harvas and the rakshasas. It speaks 
of the actions and life of one God, holy, immutable, and true, 
who is Krishna, the creator and ruler of the universe, etc." 

A few proverbs from the antique work of the Hitopadesa — 
the father of all fables — that have passed from the Sanskrit 
to the Persic, Arabic, and finally into Hebrew and Greek, 
will serve to illustrate their character. iEsop quite prob- 
ably borrowed his fables, or style, from this old Indian work, 
the oldest of which, the Rig Veda, dates back 1300 B.C. : 

All existence is not equal, 

And all living is not life. 
Sick men live, and he who banished, 

Pines for children, home, and wife; 



288 Around the World in 1884. 

And true bliss is when a sane mind 

Doth a healthy body fill; 
And true knowledge is the knowing 

"What is good and what is ill. 

Whoso for greater quits small gain 
Shall have his labor for his pain ; 
The things unwon unwon remain, 
And what was Avon is lost again. 

Death that must come, comes nobly 

When we give our wealth and life 

And all to make men live. 

Be his Scripture learning ere so great, 

Cheat will be a cheat; 

Be her pasture ne'er so bitter 

Yet the cow's milk will taste sweet. 

There is friend, and there is foe, 

As our actions make them go. 

This stanza reads like Longfellow : 

Looking down on lives below them, 

Men of little store are great; 
Looking up to higher fortunes, 
Hard to each man seems his fate. 

These early nations most undoubtedly had a knowledge 
of God, if not of the old Bible. Much of their history is 
contemporaneous, and their literature of the highest order. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Delhi — Its Palaces and Monuments — Scenes in the 
Old Mogul Capital — A Drive Through Seven Cit- 
ies in Ruins — Kootub Minar. 

WE rose early on the morning of the 15th of April, em- 
ployed a Mohammedan guide and carriage, after an 
excellent breakfast, to do the city. 

The Delhi of to-day was commenced by Shah Jehan in 



Delhi, the Old Mogul Capital. 289 

1648, but much of its ancient splendor was marred by the 
Sepoy rebellion in 1857. The present city is inclosed by 
gigantic walls of red sandstone, entered by eleven gate.-, 
named in honor of Calcutta, Lahore, Ajmere, Cashmere, 
Moou, and other cities. 

Inside the fort, or palace inclosure, many splendid struct- 
ures have been replaced by barracks for the troops; outside 
the present walls are scattered in every direction the remains 
of the most magnificent cities to be found in the world. 
These ruins embrace an area of forty-five miles square, and 
stretch away eleven miles south to the Kootub Minar and 
Fort Lalkot. Ruined arches and fallen monuments, splen- 
did tombs and mausoleums, crumbling walls and towers of 
no less than seven ancient capitals, lie in prostrate grandeur 
along the way. The objects of interest in and around Delhi 
are too numerous for an extended description. The main 
avenue inside the city is the famous old Chandni Chouk, 
the principal buildings comprising the Jumma Musjid 
(mosque), the Halls of Audience, the Dewan Khas, the 
Royal Baths, the Pearl Mosque, the cemetery, and Ludlow 
Castle. Outside, the staff of Feroz Shah, the Emperor 
Humayun's tomb, tomb of the poet Khusroo, memorial col- 
umn on the ridge and Kootub Minar, the iron pillar, tomb 
of Toogluck Shah, Feroz Shah's Lat, and many other inter- 
esting objects of study. 

The old Dilli, Dilu, or Dhilu, appears to have been built 
in the year 57 B.C. The iron shaft that stands near Koo- 
tub column bears the date of 319 A.D. This is all. of the 
old city remaining. 

The Hindoo kings reigned in Delhi until the eleventh 
century. Then came the conquest of the Mohammedans, 
and four hundred years later the Moguls, who were also 
Mohammedans. Feroz Shah, Toogluck Shah, Baber, and 
Humayun were among the most brilliant and cruel of their 
19 



290 Around the World in 1884. 

sovereigns in those days. These were succeeded by Akbar, 
his son Jehangire, and grandson Shah Jehan, the ablest as 
well as most beloved prince who ever ruled India. The 
Moguls alternated their capitals between Agra and Delhi, 
which were the seats of their power. 

Agra was named in honor of Akbar, who built its splen- 
did fort and left magnificent palaces and mosques to com- 
memorate his brilliant reign. He was a prince of simple 
taste, of generous impulses, and spotless character, for no 
dark deeds overshadowed his throne. In 1605 this great 
sovereign breathed his last. " He allowed perfect toleration 
in religious matters, for his own idea of religion seems to 
have been comprised in this : There was but one God, and 
Akbar was his Caliph." He allowed the Hindoo widows 
to marry again, and prohibited suttees under certain restric- 
tions. Like his grandfather, Baber, he was a great eques- 
trian. He once rode from Agra to Ajmere, two hundred 
and twenty miles, in two successive days. 

A vast empire was left his successors, and no one ap- 
peared to have developed and consolidated it so thoroughly 
as his illustrious grandson, Shah Jehan, who built the pres- 
ent city of Delhi on the most magnificent scale. His great 
ambition was to build tombs, baths, musjids, and palaces. 
He adorned them with the most elaborate designs and fin- 
ish. Those most celebrated are inside the Fort, which is 
within the city wall. It was always the custom to protect 
the royal palace in this manner, hence every king lived in- 
side a fort defended by his soldiers. "We may mention the 
halls of private and public audience, the bath-houses, and 
his own apartments; the Pearl Mosque, the Taj Mahal, and 
Peacock Throne. We can well imagine their splendor and 
magnificence before they were despoiled of their treasures 
under Nadir Shah in 1739. This tyrannical raider was a 
veritable carpet-bagger. He carried away no less than 



Delhi, the Old Mogul Capital, 291 

$150,000,000 of gold, silver ornaments, and diamonds from 
the Peacock Throne and other public buildings. What an 
imposing spectacle must have been presented once in the 
Hall of Public Audience, in front of this gorgeous throne, 
raised eight to ten feet above the pavement — the seat of 
administered justice and royal jurisdiction! A few feet 
below sat the ministers of State, and still lower was the 
pavement, above which rose an arched roof resting on sand- 
stone pillars and arches of strange architecture, the entire 
space below forming an open court. 

Close by, on the banks of the Jumna, is the Hall of Pri- 
vate Audience — a marble hall, open on all sides except on 
the side fronting the river, where there is some marble 
screen-work, with openings filled with octagonal pieces of 
glass. Here, on a marble platform, once stood the famous 
"Peacock Throne." This % throne is said to have rested on 
six immense feet of solid gold, inlaid with diamonds, rubies, 
and emeralds. The canopy overhead, fringed with pearls, 
was of gold, whose golden pillars glittered with gems. The 
throne received its name from two peacocks — made entirely 
of gold, inlaid with gorgeous precious stones, so as to repre- 
sent life — which were placed behind the throne. A French- 
man, Austin de Bordeaux, who fled from Europe after hav- 
ing stolen jewels from some princes, planned and executed 
the whole of this marvelous creation. Its estimated value 
alone was sixty million rupees. It Avas built about two hun- 
dred and thirty-eight years ago, and is as beautiful to-daV 
as ever. It rises from an elevated marble terrace, with 
marble columns supporting the roof, inlaid with precious 
stones, representations of beautiful flowers, while the ceil- 
ing was once covered with exquisite designs of silver and 
gold. What impress us most are the massive columns 
connecting the arches, all of marble, and carved in the 
most elaborate manner. " If there is a paradise on earth 



292 Around the World in I884. 

it is this," is still plainly carved on the walls in several 
places. 

Close to the palace is the Pearl Mosque, where the im- 
perial family worshiped. The exterior was of 'red sand- 
stone, but the interior was all of purest white marble. The 
steps, court, and raised platform were all of the same ma- 
terial. Up these steps once the Mogul emperors went to 
■offer their prayers, facing Mecca to the west. Here, as 
elsewhere, I saw many pretty designs in flowers, which were 
carved by Hindoo sculptors, whom the Mohammedans em- 
ployed to do this intricate work. The splendid baths, a few 
steps away, are of marble too, filled and emptied at pleas- 
ure. No wonder, with all this display of Oriental magnifi- 
cence, the Moguls were impressed with the grandeur of such 
scenes. 

As I drove out the Delhi gate under the cool shades of 
venerable trees, a short distance brought us in front of the 
Jumma Musjid. This is one of the largest and most fa- 
mous mosques in the world. This splendid structure was 
also erected by Shah Jehan, who built the fort and the pal- 
ace. These mosques are always open in front, the roof 
generally being supported by massive columns. We ascend 
a lofty flight of stone steps to an elevated terrace, or plat- 
form, of red stone, called a court, thirty feet high, capable 
of accommodating a vast concourse of worshipers. It is 
more than one hundred yards square, with colonnades of 
sandstone on three sides. The immense mosque, one hun- 
dred and twenty feet broad, with large marble domes, oc- 
cupies the west side. In the center I noticed a marble 
reservoir, where the faithful always w r ashed their hands be- 
fore prayer, and sun-dials indicating the hours for prayer. 
In the north-east corner of the platform I could have seen 
a hair of the prophet's beard and one of his shoes, for a 
small consideration. I ascended one of its lofty minarets, 



Delhi, the Old Mogul Capital. 293 

one hundred and thirty feet high, made of red sandstone 
and marble, alternating in vertical strips, and enjoyed a 
panorama never to be forgotten. Here the muezzin for- 
merly called to prayer. Below my feet was Delhi, envel- 
oped in dense foliage; to the east threaded the silver Jumna 
in its meanderings to the Ganges; eleven miles to the south, 
over a vast expanse of ruined cities, rose the Kootub Mi- 
liar, the loftiest column in the world. Wherever my eyes 
turned there were ruins — old forts, arches, and fallen walls. 
Every king, in building a city, built for himself and family 
a tomb, some of them costing fabulous sums. Their marble 
domes rise all over this scene of melancholy desolation. I 
stood in silence gazing for a moment on a monument north 
of us that commemorates the capture of Delhi. It rises on 
a ridge twelve hundred yards distant, from which the in- 
vincible troops of the English army began their bombard- 
ment on the doomed city in 1857. I can see, in imagina- 
tion, the intrepid Nicholson and the gallant Wilson charging 
across the intervening plain under the deadly fire of the Se- 
poy troops, who were intrenched in the fort and on the par- 
apets of the city wall. The reckless bravery of the English 
soldiers sent them charging up to the very gates — seven 
thousand English against sixty thousand Sepoys. With 
fifty pieces of artillery the British poured a storm of leaden 
hail upon the doomed city, first at Ludlow Castle and then at 
the Cashmere Bastion. A few months before they had been 
beautifying Delhi, but now, through the treachery of the 
Bengal army, they were forced to destroy all they had done. 
Nearer and closer did the besieging army approach under 
their gallant commander, the dauntless Gen. Nicholson, 
who blew up the massive gates of Lahore and Cashmere, 
and with his valiant soldiers rushed across the breach into 
the jaws of death. The gallant hero was brought back 
mortally wounded, and nearly the last of his men had per- 



294 Around the World in 1884. 

ished. Undismayed, the British rallied and swept the 
streets of Delhi, before whose storming columns the native 
troops fled in the wildest confusion. The English flag once 
more floated in triumph over the Mogul capital. The Avar 
was ended. 

Such is a brief account of that fearful struggle, and with 
it seems departed the glories of Chandni Chouk, that once 
gorgeous avenue that stretches down before me to the La- 
hore gate. The gaudy pomp of those old times may never 
meet the eye again. The shops are not so brilliant, nor do 
we see any more those throngs of richly dressed natives 
riding on caparisoned horses, lounging on their elephants, 
or borne along in party-colored jialan quins. If the scenes 
are not so picturesque as formerly, the British no longer 
fear the treachery of Bahadoor Shah, Delhi's tr„aitor, whose 
court had recently plunged his unhappy people into that 
bloody struggle. 

In wild amazement we stroll along the streets, whose lit- 
tle shops glitter with their gorgeous contents of silver-ware 
and jewelry. The bazaars' too, showed their wealth of 
golden fruit — delicious plums and cherries. How self-pos- 
sessed sit the natives, cross-legged, in their little stalls smok- 
ing small and large cocoa-nut pipes, or chatting merrily in 
turbaned heads and flowing robes! They cook, eat, and 
sew in this sitting postui*e. They grind their gram, work 
in shoe and blacksmith shops, paint and sculpture, as their 
ancestors had done for thousands of years before. I saw 
six pretty maidens sitting in rows by hand grinding the 
wheat with little stones, from which the flour did flow. 
" The mill is simply two round stones, one placed upon the 
other, two or three inches thick and about fifteen inches in 
diameter. In the upper stone a hole is drilled on one side, 
into w 7 hich a wooden handle is driven, and another hole in 
the center, through which the grain passes, and is ground 



Delhi, the Old Mogul Capital. 



295 







296 Around the World in 1SS4. 

by turning the upper stone upon the lower. As illustrated 
in the picture, the women sit opposite each other on a mat, 
with a cloth spread under the. mill, upon which the flour 
falls. After the grinding is finished they separate the chaff 
from the flour, then the coarse flour from the fine, by the 
use of a large fan made of bamboo-splints, in shape much 
like a dust-pan, but having no handle. It requires much 
practice to separate the flour, which is done by a peculiar 
shake of the fan." Here in these little rooms of Delhi 
Cashmere's fadeless shawls are woven — peerless beauties of 
snowy wool from Cashmere's vale and rugged mountains. 
Charming embroideries, so deftly made by hand, and fringes 
as soft as ermine, the fruits of patient care. Sometimes 
months, and even years, are devoted to the production of a 
single shawl. The work is all done by men, who may be 
seen in the little stalls or niches, as I have described, work- 
ing with the loom and needle through ceaseless hours of 
toil. The women in Delhi, like their sisters in Egypt and 
Palestine, are the beasts of burden laboring in the fields, 
making brick and bearing mortar on their heads to build 
the houses of India. 

I have observed our hotel is called a dak bungalow, a part 
of the magazine the English blew up in 1857. It is also a 
part of the post-office building. I felt like exploding my 
guide, who had attempted to show me Delhi the day before, 
but could not speak a word of English. He made any 
ljuniber of comical gestures, and I supposed the rest. 

After an early breakfast, we drive out the walls through 
the Delhi gate, southward, to view the ruined cities of the 
once proud Mohammedan and Mogul kings. It is fright- 
fully dusty; it has not rained since last fall, and a stiff 
north-west wind is driving an insufferable cloud of the finest 
black dirt into my face. We have a front man, a hind man, 
a boy to open the door, one to provide water, a runner, and a 



Delhi the Old Mogul Capital. 



297 




SCENE IN DELHI. 



valet. I had not employed one of them, except the driver, 
with his carriage. I was not accustomed to so much style. 
Just outside the Delhi gate, on a slightly elevated ridge, we 
stopped to examine a pillar called Feroz Shah's Lat, erected 
in the third century before Christ. It is an object of the 



298 Around the World in 1884. 

most curious interest. According to Gen. Cunningham, its 
height is forty-two feet seven inches, a single shaft of pale 
sandstone. It is about three feet in diameter at its base aud 
two feet at the summit. On the upper portion of the pillar 
I noticed a very smooth, high polish, on which are inscribed 
the records of pilgrims from the first century of the Chris- 
tian era to the present time. The golden pinnacle from the 
top has long since disappeared, but was seen as late as 1611. 
The oldest inscriptions date back 300 B.C., comprising the 
well-known edicts of King Asoka, " whoever he was," in the 
Pali language. The alphabetical characters are the oldest 
yet found in India, and are still distinctly marked on the 
column. Only a few have crumbled off the surface. The 
guide-book says there were two more ordered by this king 
to be set up in other parts of India. On all of these ap- 
pears this inscription: "Let this religious edict be engraved 
on stone pillars and stone tablets that it may endure for- 
ever." (Gen. Cunningham.) 

Ferozabad is the name of the city that once surrounded 
this pillar, and its old walls can yet be traced. It was com- 
menced in 1354, by Feroz Shah, and contained about 150,000 
inhabitants. There is a curious story told about its subter- 
ranean passages and chambers that had outlets in the river 
Jumna. In these the king was accustomed to conceal him- 
self sometimes with his valuables. A little farther on we 
behold Suiter Jung's tomb, that is said to be conspicuous as 
a model of the Taj at Agra. 

We pass rapidly from the ruins of one old city through 
another, with old forts and citadels, several miles apart, 
coming to Purana Keela. This is the locality upon which, 
it is said, rested a city three thousand years ago. The little 
mosque of Keela Kona, commenced by the Emperor Huma- 
yun in 1540, presents a fine specimen of the architecture of 
the Afghan period. ~The interior is beautifully decorated 



Delhi, the Old Mogul Capital. 299 

with blue tiles and marble, blended in fine horseshoe arches 
of exquisite beauty. 

About four miles from Delhi I approached the Emperor 
Humayun's tomb, through a grand avenue of trees, planted 
there by command of his widow, who also erected this mag- 
nificent mausoleum to his memory. Its splendid dome. 
dominates the whole landscape. It is built of the purest 
white marble, and rests upon an immense building, of red 
sandstone, richly inlaid with ornaments of the same mate- 
rial. After the fall of Delhi, the last of the Mogul em- 
perors sought refuge here, but was captured and exiled to 
Burmah, where he has since died. I ascended a flight of 
steps that led me to the second terrace, probably twenty- 
two feet high and thirty yards broad, from which rose in 
majestic grandeur this magnificent building. The eventful 
life of this unfortunate man, his great sufferings and trials, 
show how uneasy lies the head of the king. Driven by 
Shir Shah from his kingdom to Persia, an exile, he subse- 
quently seized Candahar and finally recovered his domin- 
ions. But six months later he met his death by a fall from 
his library, where he had been absorbed in reading. Hear- 
ing a call to prayer, he started quickly up a flight of stairs, 
and losing his foothold he died a few days after from his 
injuries. The steps are still very difficult to ascend. He 
was succeeded by his son Akbar, one of the most brilliant 
sovereigns of India. 

But when all these kings, amid their pomp and pride, are 
forgotten, and their splendid tombs have crumbled into dust, 
India will live in the verses and songs of her poet Khusroo. 
Even the great Toogluck Shah, five hundred years ago, 
hung in rapture on his name and caught the inspiration of 
his soul. His tomb is close by the side of his contemporary, 
Nizam-Oodee, erected in A.D. 1305. What a wilderness 



300 Around the World in 188 4. 

of tombs our road has led us through since leaving Delhi — 
"monuments of dead men and dead empires! " 

Arriving at the Kootub, we stand for a moment gazing 
at this stupendous column. It is two hundred and thirty- 
eight feet one inch above the ground — said to be the tallest 
shaft in the world. The approach to it is very grand. All 
around its base are scattered the remains of temples, arches, 
walls, and most magnificent ruins. It marks one of the sites 
of Delhi. Near by are the ruins of a mosque, built entirely 
of twenty-seven Hindoo temples, which the Mohammedans 
pulled down for the purpose. I noticed in some of the 
arches still standing that rich profusion of deep carvings 
that distinguished the magnificence of the Hindoo temples. 
A plain stone is joined to a carved stone, and there seems 
to have been no relation or reference to the original designs. 
I saw many monkeys and birds beautifully carved on the 
pillars of this old edifice. Over one door-way they were 
especially profuse and full of interesting study. In the 
center of the open court of this roofless old mosque stands 
an iron pillar twenty feet or more above the ground and 
still deeper below the surface of the paved court. It is 
about one foot and a half in diameter, and is covered with 
old inscriptions, one of them bearing the name of the Hin- 
doo king who erected it, A.D. 319. There is a curious 
legend that connects it with the reign of the king. The 
Brahmans had advised him to sink the iron shaft until it 
should crush the head of the snake god, Lishay, which, it 
was said, the world rested upon. The Brahmans directed 
how it should be done. The Kajah wanted to see the snake 
fixed himself, so he could not wriggle with his kingdom. He 
dug up the pillar — so the story goes — and while he saw some 
signs of blood, he lost his kingdom. His death was the end 
of Hindoo rule in India. 

I saw Aladdin's gate-way and Adham's tomb — not Mark 



Delhi, the Old Mogul Capital. ROl 

Twain's deceased relative, but Adham Khans. Beyond is 
Fort Lalkot, over two miles in circumference, whose mass- 
ive walls of stone I traced for some distance. There was 
another old fort and city close by, with a little knot of na- 
tives living in it. They jabber at you as if they expected 
you to understand every word they say. They are all after 
backshish, and presently you will observe one disappear from 
the side of a wall. You hurry up to see Avhat has become 
of him. It is a large tank, or well, eighty feet deep, down 
which he goes whizzing, feet foremost. Then climbing up a 
terraced wall, he makes the frightful leap again. Just before 
reaching the bottom he draws his legs together, and disap- 
pearing beneath the water for a moment, swims toAvard you 
with outstretched hands for backshish. I was in hopes this 
word had become obsolete since leaving Palestine, but I rec- 
ognize it constantly in different languages. 

The dak bungalow is an institution of India. These 
hotels, kept by the natives, are provided by the Government 
for the accommodation of travelers. There is a very good 
one at the foot of the Kootub, where I could spend the 
night, with excellent accommodations. But I must hurry 
up to the summit and get a view of the Jumna before I 
return to Delhi. 

The ascent is made by three hundred and seventy-nine 
stone steps from the interior. " The diameter of the base is 
forty-seven feet, being six stories high and fluted in the 
lower stories. In some stories the flutes are all circular, in 
others all angular, and in one they are alternately circular 
and angular. The column is just five diameters in height. 
The circumference of the base is equal to the sum of the 
diameter of the six stories." 

The history of Kootub is involved in some obscurity. 
Its early origin was probably Hindoo; but it appears to 
have been finished by the Mohammedans in 1236. The 



502 



Around the World in 188J/.. 



architect bears an outlandish name, which I would like to 
call Patrick Henry, but I can't. It was Mister Shumsh- 
ooden Altomsh — there now ! 

I noticed at the bottom of the column a belt of black 
stone, which runs around ; and at the top two belts of mar- 




■HR 

1 'Nil 




THE KOOTUB MINAR. 



ble, some verses of the Koran, and ninety-nine names 
(Arabic) of God, the praises of its builder, date of comple- 
tion, prayers on Friday, etc., are recorded in inscriptions. 
It was probably erected for some religious purpose. A 
pretty Hindoo legend tells us that the Rajah Pithora built 



Delhi, the Old Mogul Capital. 303 

this pillar for his daughter, that she might ascend it every 
morning to behold the rising of the sun over the beautiful 
Jumna. From its lofty summit the view is grand beyond 
description. Descending, we return to Delhi, a part of the 
way by a different road. 

I forgot to pay a deserved tribute to the humble, grass- 
covered grave of Jehanara. She was the devoted daughter 
of Shah Jehan, who preferred to share the fate of her unfort- 
unate but illustrious father to enjoying the splendors of 
Aurungzeb's court. This ambitious and unscrupulous young 
prince had deposed his father, defeated and put to death 
the heir-apparent, Dara Sheko, his older brother, and then 
invited his sister to his court. Jehanara was a princess 
adorned with every virtue a woman could possess. It is 
said she composed a part of the following inscription on her 
tomb: "Let no rich canopy cover my grave; this grass is 
the best covering for the poor in spirit. The humble, the 
transitory Jehanara, the disciple of the holy men of Christ 
the daughter of the Emperor Shah Jehan." Her father was 
deposed in 1658, and lived seven years after. He built the 
most famous buildings in all India, including the Palace and 
Musjid at Delhi and Taj at Agra. 

Just before reaching Delhi, about two miles to the right 
on the Kootub road, I - stopped to inspect the magnificent 
ruins of the Junter Munter, or Astronomical Observatory. 
These ruins consist of several stone buildings, representing 
sun-dials, and an equatorial dial of the grandest propor- 
tions. There were two circular buildings, with a pillar in 
each center, open at the top. From these pillars, at, the 
bottom, were drawn h»rizontal radii of stone, which, being 
graduated or calculated, made a complete circle of three 
hundred and sixty degrees. There were tangents of the 
sun's altitude marked in degrees, as shown by the shadow 
of the pillar, numbering one to forty-five degrees. Thp 



304 Around the World in 18S£. 

comparative observations of these two buildings, being ex 
actly alike, were always corrected by each other's time. 
The Delhi gate faces the whole area of splendid ruins to the 
south we have attempted to describe. We were surprised 
to find no elephants and but few camels, these being used in 
the Government service. I met a number of splendid ox- 
wagons, " regular double-deckers," crowded above and below 
with numerous families. Some of the bright-eyed Hindoo 
girls were quite pretty. The oxen were of immense size, 
perfectly white, as sleek and fat as they could be. They 
carry the draft from the top of their necks, the bow being 
tied or attached to the horns. They are tattooed in fanciful 
designs. A bullock in India is a gorgeous institution. The 
Texas and Florida cow-boys can learn something here about 
branding as an art. It exceeds the best fresco-painting the 
donkey-boys do about Cairo. Visiting a museum of natu- 
ral history, after entering the city, we soon arrived at our 
dak bungalow. I felt like a ruin myself, after such fatigue. 
From irrigated gardens we enjoy the finest vegetables, 
with abundance of eggs and poultry. Delhi being in twenty- 
eight degrees north latitude, we have tropical and semi-trop- 
ical fruits, among the number the Japanese plum I have seen 
growing in Savannah. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

From Delhi to Cashmere, Simla, and Return. 

BEFORE leaving Delhi for Agra, let us glance at this 
Punjab or north-west region of India. It is one of the 
great wheat-producing provinces of the Empire, where the 
grain is irrigated from wells, catchment basins, and canals, 
which we will notice again in our chapter on farming in 
India. There are some wonderful places and scenes to be 
visited in this marvelous region. 



The Vale of Cashmere and Simla. 



305 



Close by is a mountain of elastic stone, from which I 
brought some specimens that bend between my fingers. It 
appears to be a kind of sandstone. To the north-west rise 
the lofty Himalayas. Up in that region we hear of a peo- 
ple who pray by machinery, some by water-power and oth- 
ers by hand. These latter are called prayer-wheels, which 




PKAYING BY HAND. 

contain strips of parchment, or paper, on which the prayers 
are written. They swing the little wheel, or rattle, which 
answers the purpose of prayer just as the counting of beads 
among the Buddhists or Catholics in their devotions. 

It is four hundred miles or more to the beautiful Vale of 
Cashmere, and three hundred and forty-eight miles from 
Delhi to Lahore, the chief city of the Punjab. These two 
cities are connected now by the Punjab State and Scinde 
Railroad. At Rowal Pindi, on this line, we take a dak, or 
pony, for Srinagar, by way of Murree. Permission must 
be obtained from the Maharajah to visit the territory, as only 
a certain number of visitors are allowed each year. From 
Gujrat, a station on the same road, seventy-one miles from 
Lahore, we may reach Srinagar, the capital of Cashmere, in 
20 



306 Around the World in 188 4. 

one hundred and seventy-five and one-half miles. This 
"whole frontier presents the wildest and most picturesque 
scenery, with the snow-clad Himalayas always in sight. 

The baggage is all carried on the backs of ponies, mules, 
and coolies. The regulations say the coolie's load shall not 
exceed twenty-five seers. It is particularly desired "the 
authorities shall see that coolies and cattle are not over- 
loaded, and that the former shall be paid daily in the pres- 
ence of travelers." The coolies, I have told you, are the 
lowest caste of the Hindoos. Here they are beasts of bur- 
den. Away up in these mountains we see many wild goats, 
with long wool or hair, but are not allowed to shoot them. 
The fleece is soft and silky, dropping nearly to the ground. 
I saw one of the sheep that was a marvel of beauty. This 
region is seven to twelve thousand feet above the sea, where 
these wild goats and sheep abound. There are also immense 
flocks domesticated for growing wool that is manufactured 
in Srinagar, but principally at Delhi, into most exquisite 
shawls. It was from this region a gentleman in South Car- 
olina and Col. Richard Peters, of Atlanta, Ga., made their 
importations some years ago. In those days these beautiful 
animals were carried on mule-backs fifteen hundred miles to 
Bombay, thence by steamer to New York. Now they can be 
transported nearly all the way to the sea-coast by railroad. 
The world-famed Vale of Cashmere lies beneath the eter- 
nal snows of the Himalayas. Sometimes the most frightful 
earthquakes are felt, and destroy entire villages. From Sri- 
nagar you can go across the hills, or mountains, to Simla ; 
nearer by Delhi, being only two hundred and forty miles 
distant. It is easily made from Umbulla station, on the 
same railroad, by easy stages, across the country, only sev- 
enty-nine miles distant. You can have choice of a tonga, 
a jhampan, or saddle pony, to Simla. The road is very 
rugged for gharries. A tonga is an institution of India. It 



From Delhi to Benares. 307 

is a light vehicle for two or four persons, drawn by a pair 
of ponies, yoked up like oxen. It requires about three 
days from Ambulla to reach Simla, which is situated seven 
thousand feet above the sea level, on a spur of the Central 
Himalaya. It is a great summer-resort during the hot sea- 
son, from April to October. It is also the seat of the Gen- 
eral Government during this period. It was first estab- 
lished, after the Gurkha war in 1815, by Lord Amherst, who 
resided here first, eleven years later. Beautiful rhododen- 
drons, oak, and forest of cedar cover the east peak of Jako, 
eight thousand feet high. A road runs around its base. 
The English command the whole country by a batteiy of 
artillery, planted on one of these lofty peaks. This is one 
of the many interesting excursions that can be made from 
Delhi. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

From Delhi to Benares by Agra, C4w t npore, and 
Allahabad. 

TT was late at night before I left Delhi for Agra, a'run of 
1- one hundred and eleven miles, or four hours, by the East 
India Railroad. We start now from North-west India through 
the Central Provinces on our long journey down the Valley 
of the Ganges to Calcutta. It is about one thousand miles, 
without change, by the express ; but we are to stop off at 
Agra and other places. We had employed several hours at 
the dak bungalow, before our departure, in making purchases 
and some necessary preparations for the journey. ■ 

I wanted a Cashmere shawl. Everybody buys a shawl, 
I believe, before leaving Delhi. I had no particular use 
for such a luxurious garment; but then it was fashionable, 
and I might be asked a thousand times if I had purchased 
one. A Jew is a full match for a Hindoo. I saw these 



308 Around the World in 1SSJ-. 

two genus homos meet in my bungalow. The Hindoo, Mr. 
Chant, spread his gorgeous stock on the floor and then as- 
sumed a sitting posture, cross-legged, ready for business. I 
had retained the valuable services of my Rajputana com- 
panion to negotiate the sale. I did not wish to be thrown 
into bankruptcy so far away from home. I sat a short dis- 
tance off and watched, with deep interest, the preconcerted 
attacks and diplomacy that the Jew and I had arranged for 
the occasion. "What is the price of that shawl?" inquired 
my Hebrew friend. "One hundred rupees," replied the 
Hindoo. " Disgusting prices ! I shall not talk to you ! I 
can, buy the same article for one-fourth the money you ask ! " 
Jew walks away. Hindoo sat like a statue, perfectly amazed. 
Presently the Jew returns. Hindoo falls twenty rupees — 
"A bargain, master ; very cheap ! " Jew offers thirty. Hin- 
doo falls twenty more. Jew decides not to buy at all, but 
retires. In half an hour he came rushing back as if get- 
ting ready to depart on the train, and like to have stumbled 
over the merchant. " Hey! not gone yet?" "No, master. 
You must have this beautiful shawl. Say nothing about it; 
being as it is you, take it for thirty." Jew falls again to 
twenty rupees. "All right, master; you ruin me!" This 
was one-fifth the original price asked. It is the custom in 
India to ask foreigners these exorbitant figures ; but no one 
understood this better than my obliging friend. 

Arriving early the following morning at Lucies Hotel, in 
Agra, we enjoyed a refreshing nap of sleep before break- 
fast. The Hindoo merchants had heard of my arrival, and 
a number had gathered after daylight in front of my lattice 
doors, with their bundles and traps for display. They were 
knocking gently at my door, occasionally casting sly glances 
through the blinds to see if I was awake. Every trade 
except the monkey and organ-grinder seemed to be repre- 
sented. Presently the barber rushed in and began to shave 



The Vale of Cashmere and Simla. 309 

me in the bed. What a luxury! what comfort! I could 
never think of shaving iu a chair again. I was completely 
demoralized; perfectly reckless. I turned over and con- 
cluded to buy out those princely merchants sitting cross- 
legged before my door. They had bullock horns, highly 
polished; stag horns, fans, shawls, silks, and a numerous 
display of small trifles for souvenirs. The prices first asked 
would have startled Jacob Astor; but as I walked away 
they kept falling and swarming around me like a village 
crowd at an auction. "Cheap, master; a bargain, sir!" 
screaming at top of their voices. These Hindoos were all 
colors — black, brown, yellow, and gingerbread — some with 
a cloth around their shoulders and loins, while the smaller 
boys had nothing on worth mentioning. They presented a 
ludicrous appearance as merchants. They looked pretty 
much like a crowd of Georgia darkies just out of a mill- 
pond. Then the Taj man came with his snowy model of 
that peerless creation of sculptured marble. The shawl 
man like to have boAved me off the sidewalks. What a 
pleasure to hear our language spoken again ! Even -the 
waiters about the table speak fair English. We enjoy ex- 
cellent coffee, mutton-chops, eggs, English bread and butter, 
with plenty of delicious fruits. Here we have the Japan 
plum, oranges, bananas, mangoes, and other fruits in season. 
Remember, there are no winters nor summers proper in In- 
dia, but that the year is divided into the wet and dry seasons. 
On the opposite side of the table sat a group of young 
Englishmen, just from Australia, who were recounting the 
incidents and adventures of a two years voyage from home. 
They were clever, jolly fellows, but evidently belonged to 
the "wet side" of the temperance question. It is this feat- 
ure of English life in India that has compromised foreigners 
of all countries with the natives. The Hindoo does not 
drink — it is asrainst his religion. It ought to be against the 



310 



Around the World in 1884. 



Christian's as well. The Hindoo regards a drunken En- 
glishman with horror. He expects to be stirred up; for the 
English declare this is the only way "to get along with the 




STIRRING UP A HINDOO. 

rascals." Doubtless, then, when the Hindoo hears an ale- 
jug whizzing by his ears he becomes thoroughly disgusted 
with our religion and Christian civilization. What a howl 
of indignation would be felt in the North if we were to 
rush at our freedmen this way ! Yet this Hindoo has sprung 
from the same race we have. 

Agra (Akbarabad), on the right bank of the river Jum- 
na, was built by Akbar, the greatest of the Mogul kings. 
His grandfather, Baber, was the founder of the Mogul 
dynasty. Many places in India bear names ending in abad 
or pore. Akbarabad (the city of Akbar), Ahmedabad (the 
city of Ahmed), signifying who lived or was born there. 
Kosh is a mountain ; Hindoo - Kosh, the Hindoostaneo 
mountain; Punjab, the five waters — Ab meaning water 
and Panj or Punj a numeral signifying five. Abad means 



From Delhi to Benares. 311 



the City of Allah as well. All these words belong to the 
Afghan tongue, but are common throughout India. 

Akbar, by his conciliatory policy, won the loyalty of his 
Hindoo subjects and built the fort and palace here in 156G. 
By his brilliant reign of forty years his grandson, Shah Je- 
han, was enabled to continue the building of palaces, mosques, 
tombs, and forts, on the most magnificent scale, here and at 
Delhi. He left immense wealth in the public treasury. 

The tomb of Akbar is at Secundra, five miles from Agra, 
which I did not see — now a magnificent ruin. My greatest 
desire was to behold the world-renowned Taj, whose beauti- 
ful white marble dome is plainly visible many miles away. 

Soon after breakfast we secured a gharry, a one-horse 
four-wheeler, for a drive down a broad, clean avenue, on 
either side of which looked out elegant bungalows from a 
wealth of tropical plants and foliage. There were pretty 
whitewashed walls extending along the streets nearly to the 
Taj, which rises majestically on the banks of the Jumna, 
one mile east of Agra. We enter a massive gate-way, itself 
a splendid work of art, built of sandstone and inlaid with 
marble, under an open arch high above me, and enter an 
avenue of bewildering beauty. Down the center plays a 
long line of fountains, each throwing up a single jet. On 
both sides the palm, banyan, and feathery bamboo mingle 
their foliage; the songs of birds fill my ears, while the odors 
and perfume of roses and lemon-blossoms sweeten the air. 
Down such a vista and over such a foreground rises the 
most wonderful building in the world. Long before reach- 
ing India I had heard of its splendor, its stately beauty 
and costly magnificence. I am not disappointed. Its his- 
tory is a most interesting episode in the life of the Emperor 
Shah Jehan, who erected this splendid mausoleum to the 
memory of his favorite wife, whom he cnllcd by the pet name 
of Taz, or Taj. It seems to have been a custom among the 



312 Around the World in 1884. ■ 

Tartars, from whom the Moguls descended, to build their 
sepulchers as palaces of enjoyment while living ; but after 
death as tombs, no longer to echo the footsteps of mirth. 
But the Taj does not illustrate this theory. The faithful 
wife of Shah Jehan died before the building was begun. 
She had followed her husband on the battle-field, and like 
poor Rachel — whose tomb I saw near Bethlehem — she, too, 
died in childbirth. The emperor brought her remains to 
Agra and interred them in her favorite garden, and erected 
over them this the most splendid mausoleum in the world. 
Its erection was begun in A.D. 1630, and finished in 
twenty-two years; employing in its construction twenty 
thousand men, who were forced to labor without pay, receiv- 
ing only a scanty allowance of corn. Its estimated cost is 
about thirty millions of rupees or fifteen millions of dollars. 
Were it built now, its approximate cost, would be fifty mill- 
ion dollars. During the building there was a frightful 
mortality among the men, which wrung tears from the poor 
peasants around Agra, who cried : 



Have mercy, God, on our distress, 
For we die, too, with the empress! 



Had I the power and imagery of Bayard Taylor I might 
attempt a description of the Taj. In airy gracefulness and 
faultless architecture it is well-nigh perfect. Whether seen 
from a distant view or near approach through its magic ave- 
nue, it never fails to excite the deepest enthusiasm in the trav- 
eler who beholds it. Rising in majestic beauty from an im- 
mense marble platform, or terrace, twenty feet high and 
three hundred feet square, this marble mausoleum, flanked 
by graceful minarets at each corner, stands alone without a 
rival. From the main building, which is about one hun- 
dred and forty feet square, rises a central dome, seventy 
feet in diameter and one hundred and twenty feet high. 



From Delhi to Benares. 813 

Below the marble terrace is another of sandstone, over three 
hundred and twenty yards long, from one end of which rises 
a sandstone mosque, faced with marble. This is intended 
as a sort of resting-place, or inn, for worshipers at a dis- 
tance. As Dr. Hendrix, in his charming description of this 
building, has remarked, it seems to have been a point in 
some styles of Oriental architecture never to leave any part 
of a building without something to correspond with it, called 
a "jawab," or answering to the inn described above. The 
central building resembles an octagon. The whole building, 
with its cupolas and its marvelous white dome, is built of 
marble. Numerous characters may be seen inside and out- 
side the building, in which, it is said, the whole of the 
Koran (or Mohammedan Bible) is inlaid in white and black 
marble. Behold the Taj from any direction you may, I 
have yet to see an object more beautiful, more ethereal, than 
its great marble dome, "which, instead of resting flat upon 
the building,"' rises and swells into majestic proportions un- 
til it appears almost transparent, as a " bubble," floating 
away into a marvelous blue sky, that enraptures my soul. 
The height of this stupendous building is three hundred and 
twenty-one feet, being taller than the Kootub column I de- 
scribed near Delhi. Let us now ascend a lofty flight of 
marble steps to the upper terrace, or platform, and study its 
interior magnificence. We see below the tomb of the Em- 
peror Shah Jehan, by the side of his beloved wife, surrounded 
by a marble screen-work of wondrous beauty. It is perfo- 
rated so as to represent the most artistic designs in mosaic. 
The slabs on which they rest are inlaid with precious stones 
of different colors, so arranged as to bring out their dazzling 
magnificence. Here are agate, carnelian, jasper, turquois, 
and lapis lazuli, blending so harmoniously as to represent 
natural flowers. The tomb of the queen rests just below 
the center of the great dome. " Shah Jehan had laid the 



814 Around the World in 188 '4- 

foundations of a similar mausoleum for himself on the op- 
posite side of the river Jumna, the two to be connected by a 
marble bridge." It is probable the wars with his sons, 
borne him by his lovely queen, prevented its completion. 
His tomb is to the left of his queen's. It is similar to hers, 
may be larger, in the same manner inlaid with precious 
stones. The ninety-nine names of God, in Arabic charac- 
ters, are inscribed on her tomb; while on his is an Arabic 
inscription " containing some reference to the death of the 
emperor and the history of this wonderful building." Look- 
ing above, the light pours into the building through win- 
dows of the most delicate tracery of marble screen-work. 
You can appear and disappear in a circular rotunda, through 
mysterious arches that resounded with a wondrous echo. I 
stood for a moment listening to my voice that rolled away in 
harmonious undulations, rising higher and higher toward its 
heavenly dome ; the sound floats and soars away so slowly that 
you hear it after it is silent — as you see, or seem to see, " a lark 
you have been watching after it is swallowed up in the blue 
vaults of heaven." Shah Jehan left a number of villages as 
a perpetual endowment to keep up the repairs of this mau- 
soleum. Yellow-robed priests, with portentous airs, stroll 
at large through these lovely gardens and infest the very 
portals of this palatial tomb with their obnoxious presence. 
I could see backshish in their very eyes, and some of them 
had very winning ways to make a man hate them. 

I was greatly interested in Akbar's old fort and his palace 
inside, near the railroad station where we landed. It is 
three hundred years old. The walls are built of red sand- 
stone, sixty feet high and over one mile and a half in cir- 
cumference. The Jumna washes its eastern side. The view 
coming up the river from the Taj increases in interest as we 
approach nearer. The imperial mosque in this collection 
is one of the finest I have seen. Its inner court, beautifully 



From Delhi to Benares. 315 

carved panels, and Saracenic arches, all of white marble, 
betray much Oriental grandeur about them. Outside the 
walls of the fort, Shah Jehan built a larger one in honor of 
his daughter, Jehan ara, whose humble grave we noticed at 
Delhi. This fort, like the one at Delhi, is garrisoned by 
English soldiers and commanded by British cannon. The 
Government has been engaged for years in restoring much 
of the former magnificence of the Palace, Akbar's Judgment- 
seat, Hall of Public Audience, and other buildings inside 
the fort. I observed cunning workmen (Hindoos) cutting 
precious stones for mosaic, and a room frescoed in original 
designs for the Prince of Wales some years ago showed the 
restoration of its ancient splendor. The Hall of Public 
Audience, or Judgment-seat, in some respects, reminds me 
of the one described in the fort at Delhi. It is a long 
open hall, as wide as it is broad, with its roof resting on 
three rows of massive pillars, joined by those same Saracen- 
ic arches. Akbar appears to have occupied a seat below the 
throne when he sat in judgment on affairs of State. He was 
a prince of simple taste, and ignored that haughty pride 
which made the Mogul king the detestation of his people. 

Jehanger, Akbar's sou and Shah Jehan's father, built a 
large red sandstone building at the farther end of the pal- 
ace buildings. I did not enter it. I felt more interest in 
Akbar's Palace. 4.t fronts the river and covers an immense 
space of ground. A splendid view of the Taj, a mile down 
the silver Jumna, is enjoyed from its open court. The river 
flows by in silent grandeur. Akbar must have been a jolly 
old king in his day. He lived in stately pride and pleas- 
ure. I have traversed his old palace, through labyrinths 
of columns, around which the soft-eyed beauties of his 
harem used to play. In front I saw a marble court, with 
the chess-lines still visible, on which the king moved his 
pretty girls from square to square (my guide says) instead 



316 Around the World in 1S8J/.. 

of men. Then there was the great tank, in which Akbar 
once dropped his royal hook from the rear balcony of the 
palace, amid the flash of dark eyes and loving caresses. As 
he would toss the treasures of the deep, I could imagine a 
dozen startled maidens flying for refuge behind this wilder- 
ness of columns. I passed through a large court filled with 
fountains and flowers, and entered the palace of glass — the 
" shish mahal," or royal bath, the walls of which were or- 
namented with numberless mirrors. These were arranged 
in the most ingenious designs. The water falls in a marble 
pool ; over brilliant lamps, lighted from within, mimic cas- 
cades tumbled from the walls, over slabs of marble, into 
basins " so curiously carved that the motion of the water 
produced the appearance of fish." There are other inter- 
esting places, such as the under-ground passage, where, in 
the oppressive heat, "the king's ladies once played hide- 
and-seek for the amusement of their lord." The guide 
shows the well where the disloyal subjects were put to death. 
Many of these buildings, so long out of repair, are being 
gradually restored by the Government. Shah Jehan em- 
ployed the finest French and Italian masters in his times to 
instruct the Hindoos in intricate arts, which they seem to 
have retained a knowledge of till this day. I examined a 
great door of sandal-wood, with curious carvings, many 
hundred years old. #. 

There is a tradition about a certain block of stone the 
Rajah of Bhurpore and Lord Ellenboro, Governor-general 
of India, once sat on, which ^caused the stone to shed blood. 
"Bishop Marvin tried it, and it did not even grunt." I 
thought I had outtraveled these foolish stories when I left 
Mohammed's foot-prints in Jerusalem, the scattered bones of 
the prophets, a lock of the Virgin's hair in Messina, thirty 
pieces of the true cross and a small keg of nails that came 
out of it in the cathedrals of Europe ; but I tremble as I 



From Delhi to Benares. 317 

approach Benares, the birthplace of Buddha. I expect to 
find him as badly scattered from India to Japan. 

Recrossing the splendid iron bridge over the Jumna, we 
are whirling away toward the junction, fourteen miles dis- 
tant, where the branch road from Agra intersects with the 
main line. Here we change cars for Cawnpore, Allahabad, 
and Benares. I watched the peerless white dome of the Taj 
for miles, as it soared away like an air- castle in the blue vault- 
ed dome of heaven. I had seen nothing that impressed me so 
grandly since the Pyramids of Egypt sunk on my vision. The 
pictures of these two marvelous structures will live among 
the fadeless memories of my voyage around the world. 

At the first station after leaving Agra one of Islam's fol- 
lowers jumped out of the cars, spread his carpet on the 
ground, and began his prayers in the most impressive man- 
ner. He had turned his face westward toward Mecca. The 
whistle blew, but he continued his supplication to the 
throne of grace. He was literally wrapped in the bosom of 
the prophet. When the train was about to leave him it re- 
quired the guards and several of his comrades to adjourn 
that prayer-meeting. There was not even time for the dox- 
ology. He came running to the cars, laughing. I don't 
know Avhat to think of Islam or his religion — whether his 
devotions are mere formalities, mumbling a few verses from 
the Koran, or whether he is contrite at heart. He washes 
his hands and prays five times a day, as I have observed. 
Some of us Protestants do n't pray once in a year. It seems 
as if our religion was a mockery compared to the formal- 
ities of the Moslem. Islam abhors idolatry, but tolerates 
polygamy and recognizes Mohammed and God instead of 
the Lord and our Saviour. But his history is written in 
tyranny, oppression, and blood. The Mohammedans are yet 
the aggressive race of India ; but in religion the Hindoos 
are the most powerful. 



318 Around the World in 188 4. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Farming in India — Cotton, Wheat, Barley, Gram — 
Price op Labor, etc. 

THERE is such a variety of soil and climate in India we 
are astounded at the marvelous phases agriculture as- 
sumes. In one division of the nine British provinces there 
is a fair rain-fall of forty to fifty inches; in another section 
there is no rain at all except during the monsoons, which 
begin in June and end in October. In North-west India, 
through Rajputana State, the Scinde and Punjab prov- 
inces, farming is absolutely dependent on wells, canals, and 
catchment basins, from which its lands are irrigated in the 
absence of rain- fall. Crops of all kinds are planted in drills 
or rows, to admit the flow of water between. These States, 
with the central provinces below, comprise the great grain- 
growing regions. Here wheat, barley, oats, and gram are 
extensively cultivated. The opium district is down about 
Benares and Patna; still farther south, in Bengal, rice, 
hemp, incligo, and sugar-cane are largely cultivated. In 
the western provinces, east and north of Bombay, in Berar 
and Surat districts, or throughout the level plain of Hin- 
doostan, cotton is one of the most prominent features of 
agriculture. As coiton is our principal crop in the Atlantic 
and Gulf States, I will notice its cultivation in India first. 
The causes, or influences, that promote its production here 
are among the most remarkable phenomena in nature. 
Here she elaborates one of "the most beautiful and useful 
of meteorological problems" I have ever studied. It is 
this : that the great deserts of Central Asia produce the cot- 
ton crop of Hindoostan. By referring to your atlas you will 
perceive Hindoostan is a fertile plain situated between the 



Farming in India. 319 



Himalayas on the north and the Ghauts on the west of In- 
dia. Between these two great ranges, then, lies the cotton 
region of Hindoostan. We have alluded to the monsoons, 
but have not told you what they are or what produce 
them. The monsoons, then, are the periodical winds that 
blow six months from one point of the compass and then 
change and blow the other half of the year from the oppo- 
site point. These are called the north-east and south-west 
monsoons. The first brings dry weather, the last wet, 
called the crop monsoon. The great deserts alluded to 
produce them. If those deserts were clothed with verdure, 
covered with forest, and watered by streams, they would 
reverse this order of nature, and Hindoostan, with its two 
hundred millions of inhabitants, would perish. When the 
sun has crossed from the Southern into the Northern Hem- 
isphere and stands perpendicular over the Great Desert in 
May, he pours down his vertical rays into this intermina- 
ble waste of sand, heating it up like a fiery furnace. It is 
an ocean of sand where not a blade of grass can be found. 
Once heated, the air begins to rarefy and ascends, forming 
a great vacuum, while the furnace grows hotter and hotter. 
The north-east monsoons, blowing over Hindoostan, are 
slackened by this vacuum. They grow weaker and weaker, 
then calms ensue, which after a long struggle are finally 
turned back, and the south-west monsoon, or rainy season, 
begins. These hot winds, now changed from the north to 
the south-west monsoon, have a clean sweep from the tropic 
of Capricorn across the great bosom of the ocean, following 
the sun in his course, under his vertical rays "lap up the 
waters like a thirsty wolf," and shower them down on In- 
dia. The evaporation, according to the Geographical Socie- 
ty of Bombay, has exceeded an inch every day while these 
heated winds were traveling over its bosom. 

Commodore Semmes, in his "Service Afloat," illustrates 



320 Around the World in 188b. 

another beautiful provision of nature. I have mentioned 
the Ghaut Mountains, stretching along parallel with the 
west coast of Hindoostan. "These mountains protect the 
plains from inundation. The south-west monsoon blows 
square across these mountains. As the heavily laden winds 
begin to ascend the first slopes they commence to deposit 
their moisture." Immense quantities of water, sometimes 
as much as thirteen inches in a single day, are precipitated, 
thereby depriving them of their excess of water. Thus the 
cotton region is saved from inundation by this diminishing 
process. 

It is in nature we study the mysterious hand of the Crea- 
tor. We see the under-currents from the frigid zone of the 
north pole flowing to the equator to produce an equilib- 
rium in density, while the heated waters of the Gulf-stream 
flow across the Atlantic to warm up the frozen shores of 
Great Britain. More mysterious still is this great heating- 
furnace of the central deserts that sends its hot currents of 
air whizzing around and across the ocean, bearing on their 
wings the moisture that shall feed two hundred millions of 
people of India. 

The first experiments in cotton culture appear to have 
been made about Surat, one hundred and sixty -seven miles 
north-west of Bombay, producing a staple known by that 
name of inferior quality. Here, and at Baroda, English 
capital has introduced improved machinery for the culti- 
vation of cotton, steam cotton gins and presses for prepar- 
ing it for market. I saw immense piles of seed at Baroda 
that would be shipped to Europe and converted into oil 
and cake. When the monsoon rains begin, about the last 
of May or first of June, the land is plowed and seed planted 
on beds by the English as in Egypt. They cultivate much 
like we do in the Southern States. But the natives, who 
produce nearly all the crop, sow broadcast on beds three 



Farming in India. 321 



feet wide, generally with lentels (beans), or some other crop 
which matures in advance or after the cotton crop. The 
beans taken off, the young plant is cultivated entirely with 
the hoe. The best staple of cotton is produced in Berar dis- 
trict, north of Hyderabad, said to rival New Orleans mid- 
dlings; so Mr. Henry Ballantyne, of Bombay, informs me, 
Mr. Ballantyne thinks with the same methods, machinery, 
and preparation for market adopted by the Southern plant- 
ers in North America, Hindoostan will eventually become 
a formidable competitor in the growth and production of 
the cotton supply for the world's consumption. I examined 
several very fair samples in Bombay. Experiments made 
with American seed show they deteriorate here in a few 
years. The best cotton districts lie between twenty-eight 
and thirty-three degrees north latitude. After planting, 
there is little labor bestowed except weeding with the hoe. 
The cotton grows luxuriantly, soon covering the ground, 
with the stalks standing six inches to a foot apart. The 
women and children from the villages do the cultivation, 
and in October turn out en masse to gather the fleecy staple. 
An acre, sown broadcast in the way described, yields two to 
three hundred pounds of seed-cotton. This is taken to the 
villages, where the lint is either picked off by hand or sep- 
arated by thousands of little roller-gins, like those once 
used in Carolina and Georgia. The lint is then sold to the 
English buyers or their agents, taken to the press at the 
railway stations, packed, and shipped to Bombay. It is 
there compressed, as I have stated, before exportation to 
Liverpool. 

Formerly Russia and France were the competitors of the 
United States in the production of wheat. The rapid ex- 
tension of the railway system in India the past few years has 
increased the wheat crop from two hundred thousand bush- 
els, thirty years ago, to two hundred and forty-five million 
21 



322 Around the World in .1884. 

bushels in 1884. So India is now second only to the United 
States. The average yield here is about twelve bushels per 
acre, varying according to land and seasons. The Punjab, 
Oude, and north-western provinces, show the greatest acre- 
age and production. There are fifty-three millions of acres, 
good land, that can yet be brought under cultivation. 

Efforts have been made by the Government to introduce 
better plows; but the natives are too poor to buy them, or 
from traditional usages are slow to abandon old methods. 
A few agricultural colleges, with plowing matches, etc., and 
still another project of establishing agricultural banks for 
the ryots, or farmers, may produce a wonderful revolution 
in the future agriculture of India. But it will require time 
to overcome prejudice and supplant the little sticks of plows 
(inexpensive) used by the natives. The rate of interest 
here is not only arbitrary, but simply ruinous. Money is 
loaned to the ryot3 at fifty and seventy-five per cent, per 
annum, the principal hardly ever being expected on ex- 
tended paper. 

The cost of wheat will average from twelve to sixteen 
annas (thirty-six to forty-eight cents) per bushel, determined 
by the rain-fall and irrigation. As I have stated, in the 
central provinces we find a regular rain-fall of forty to fifty- 
five inches, the same as Georgia, while in the States of Scinde 
and Eajputana the crop must be irrigated. I find thirty 
millions irrigated out of two hundred million acres of wheat 
cultivated in British India. Eight millions of acres are ir- 
rigated from canals and catchment basins and twelve mill- 
ions from wells — a well and bullock to every acre. Canals 
increased the value of land four hundred per cent. In 
Mysore irrigated farms sell for £35, or $175, per acre; 
while lands without water bring only £2 to £2. 10s, equal 
to ten to twelve dollars and fifty cents. No country in the 
world is so phenomenal in physical characteristics as India. 



Farming in India. 323 



Where the rain-fall is precipitate, catchment basins twenty- 
five miles in circumference, ten to sixty feet deep, are pro- 
vided to hold the water of the rain season to supply the 
deficiencies of drought. In the Scinde agriculture is entire- 
ly dependent on the floods or the snows of the Himalayas. 
The longest canal in the Punjab is five hundred and two 
miles. Two thousand five hundred small channels irrigate 
from this canal seven hundred and eighty thousand acres of 
wheat, producing an average of fifteen maunds, or twenty 
bushels and ajialf, per acre. This wheat weighs sixty to 
sixty-four pounds per bushel, being very dry, of white or 
red varieties. It is all cut by hand with scythes and threshed 
on the ground or threshing-floors with the tramping or 
treading of buffalo cows. The natives make fans out of 
bamboo when there is not sufficient wind to winnow it. The 
holdings, or farms, average from three to nine, acres, and 
even as high as thirty-five acres in the central provinces. 
The land in India is cultivated with bullocks and buffalo 
cows. The plow looks like a pick-ax, one arm of the pick 
for the plowshare and the other for the handle. It seems to 
tear, and not to cut, the ground. It stirs the soil without 
inverting it. In this district, Agra and Allahabad below, 
barley or gram is sown with the wheat in October and cut 
in March or April. The land is supposed to have lain 
fallow the previous summer. It receives no manure what- 
ever, except about the cities. It is surprising how many 
centuries this Valley of the Ganges has been cultivated with 
the rudest implements, without fertilizers. It must be the 
continual stirring of the soil, from four to twenty plowings 
(owing to the industry of the farmer) given a single crop. 
When the land is once prepared, the Hindoo opens his bed 
and drills in the seed by a little bamboo tube attached be- 
hind his plow. If it is too dry to germinate the seed, he 
gives his land a watering before sowing; then three or four 



324 Around the World in 1884. 

waterings during cultivation. Think of fifty miles square 
with one thousand bullocks to the square mile, in North- 
west India, elevating water to farm Avith! We will notice 
the other great factor that solves the problem of agriculture 
in India. It is an unsettled problem in our country. I al- 
lude to the labor question. Cheap labor is empirical here. 
It defies all competition. Even lumber can be sawed by 
hand power cheaper than by steam, and lint cotton grown 
at three to four cents per pound. The best teke plank is 
sawed at. twenty cents per hundred feet. It is said the Hin- 
doo is worth only one-third as much as a European in the 
field. Admit the supposition, you get his day's labor for 
ten cents, his wife's for two annas, or six cents, and the 
children's for five cents each, without board. The climate 
here supplies nearly all his wants, with fruits and vegeta- 
bles, and dispenses with the clothing of our Western Hem- 
isphere. He lives in a bamboo hut, thatched with straw or 
palm-leaves, its sides stuccoed with mud, with a hole in the 
top of the roof for a chimney and one in the side for a door, 
upon a dirt floor. Happy Hindoo ! No, he is not happy. 
He is very poor, but seems contented. Some are well to 
do, while the native princes are very wealthy. They enjoy 
fine clothes and sumptuous living. They no longer have 
use for standing armies. The English Government protects 
them. But a coolie here will work all the year round for 
what it costs to feed a Georgia freedman. He is a vegeta- 
rian, as I have remarked. It is against his religion to eat 
meat, and I wish it was against that of our darkies'. It is 
against his religion to drink whisky. Our freedmen, and our 
white population too, would become wealthy, if they could 
emulate the Hindoo in his temperate life. 



Caivnpore and Lucknow. 



325 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

Cawnpore and Lucknow. 

RESUMING our journey down the Ganges, we witness 
many scenes about the stations on our arrival. The 
station-houses are musical with the cries and songs of the 
native hucksters, who bear on their heads delicious fruits, 
little cakes, eggs, and candies, rushing up and down the 
trains to see who will buy their wares. The horse dak is 




GETTING UNDER WAY. 

coming to meet the train, while the booking office is crowded 
with the natives buying tickets for the third-class cars. The 
heat is increasing in intensity, and at every station we see 
the Hindoos jumping out of the cars and squatting on the 
ground to take a drink. This is the water-carrier I de- 
scribed in Egypt, who pours the water out of his leather! 
bottle into the hands of the native. 



326 



Around the World in 188J/.. 




TAKING A DRINK. 



The East India Railroad employs many of the Hindoos 
as flag and station masters, who are faithful in the perform- 
ance of their official duties. The Eurasians — the cross of 
the Portuguese with the natives — are well-educated fellows, 
speaking English fluently, and fill all the most important 
places not occupied by English officials. They may be seen 
in the booking offices selling tickets, in the baggage and 
waiting rooms, but never as conductors or engineers, these 
places being filled by the Englishmen. 

We are approaching Cawnpore, situated on the right bank 



Caivnpore and Lucknoiv. 327 

of the Ganges — a beautiful city, which all Englishmen re- 
gard with veneration, for man)' of their consecrated dead 
sleep here. Whether the deposition of the King of Oude 
or the deep-seated hatred of the natives toward the English 
Government was the cause of the mutiny in 1857, we can- 
not discuss here. What a horrid spectacle must have en- 
raged the English soldiery when they entered Cawnpore 
and found the wives and children of their own blood cruelly 
butchered by that arch-rebel, Nana Dhooudonapout, of 
Bithoor, and cast down a well, mangled and flying, their 
forms all covered with blood! That awful massacre oc- 
curred on the 15th of July, 1857. The well was filled up 
with earth, and after the war was over a beautiful monu- 
ment was erected over the spot. An angel, with drooping 
wings and downcast face, that seems to breathe in living 
marble, rises to perpetuate the memory of the consecrated 
dead. While Delhi was the center, Oude was the battle- 
field, of that memorable conflict. No wonder the infuriated 
English soldiers, fired with the indignation and rage so hor- 
rible a massacre inspired, sent a thrill of terror into the 
ranks of the vanquished Sepoys when they began to blow 
them out of the mouths of their own cannon. 

Forty-six miles by rail, the splendid city of Lucknow is 
reached — another memorable place in the history of that 
struggle, where the gallant Sir Henry Lawrence was killed 
and the immortal Havelock died. Both Cawnpore and 
Lucknow are at present the centers of important mission- 
ary schools and educational work, situated in the richest 
province in India. The Methodist Episcopal Church Mis- 
sion, of America, has been established here about thirty 
years, and numbers thousands of converts among the Hin- 
doos, who are much more easily reached, it appears, than 
the Mohammedans. Some wealthy natives have made do- 
nations for charitable institutions, among others hospitals, 



328 Around the World in I884. 

where the sick or afflicted native women may be cared for. 
A number of women practitioners, both among the mission- 
aries and native preachers' wives, who have studied medi- 
cine, are welcomed among the people, where they find am- 
ple opportunities for spreading the gospel. 

It is amusing to see the elephants of the rich rajahs driven 
into the river Jumna here by their attendants, the " ma- 
houts," for a bath and good scrubbing. They lie down in 
the water on their sides, stretching out at full length, occa- 
sionally raising their trunks out of the river to take breath. 
They look the very pictures of contentment. 

All over India we have seen both men and women chew- 
ing the betel-nut. We recognize it by the discolored teeth 
and red lips of the natives. It is usually wrapped in a 
green leaf, with a little lime and tobacco added before chew- 
ing. I never tried it ; but it is said to have a not unpleas- 
ant taste. Everywhere it forms an important staple of 
commerce, and thousands of women and boys throughout 
India may be seen sitting at the street-corners, preparing 
and selling it. Twice every day the Hindoo is required to 
bathe, or wash himself. In every stream I have seen large 
numbers bathing — often standing in the Avater washing their 
scanty garments, when they had any on. Both their re- 
ligion and the climate demand cleanliness, which is one ex- 
cellent feature of Hindoo life. When they have no streams 
they wash upon the street-corners. The children run out 
and play in the pools and mud as they do in other coun- 
tries. The mother is ablaze with jewels. She wears a 
necklace of English sovereigns and pearls around her neck, 
countless rings, bangles, and ringlets, rings on her toes and 
tinkling silver bells in her ears. I have seen jewels in her 
nose. She is generally attired in a ball-room costume, with 
shorter skirts and lower necks than are worn even in Amer- 
ica. Her baby, not eighteen months old, is a gorgeous lit- 



Caivnpore and Lacknoiv. 



329 




WASHING UP. 

tie institution. Like its mother, it delights in its bangles 
and charms. I have seen the men wearing bracelets, and 
nose-rings too. With a population of two hundred mill- 
ions, we can perceive what an immense quantity of gold and 
silver in ornaments is retired from circulation. 
^ In one hour and a half we arrive at Allahabad, a large 
city situated between the rivers Jumna and Ganges, three 
miles above their confluence. It, too, is one of the sacred 
cities of the Hindoos. Upon the wooded banks of the 
Jumna the memories of Krishna and Buddha— once of 
earth, but now of heaven— are still revered. This land of 
myths and legends breathes the spirit of "Hindoo poesy on 
every page of its history." These Hindoos boasted of their 
god of India, the god of air, long before "Zeus" was known 
to Homer. "The Aryans had worshiped the same god 



330 Around the World in 188%. 

here before they carried him into Greece and Italy. The 
Brahmans, who migrated toward the south, invoked him 
along the river of the Punjab." * Here " Pruyag," the moon 
god, once lived. During' January the festival in his honor 
begins. The mela, or fair, held near the junction of the two 
rivers, lasts two months. 

The whole earth is covered with tents, superstition, devo- 
tees, and beggars. For every hair shaven off the Hindoo's 
head that falls in the rivers one million years of happiness 
is promised in paradise. Imagine what a barber-shop, with 
its million of thrifty razors at work, is to be seen here! 
Allahabad is the junction of the road from Bombay, eight 
hundred and forty-four miles, by Avay of Jubbulpore. It 
is a city of the greatest antiquity. Megasthenes, a Greek 
embassador, resided here 300 B.C. We have accounts of 
India through the Greek written by him. An old Hindoo 
fortress stood near here three thousand years ago. One of 
the sacred j)illars of Asoka, similar to the one described at 
Delhi, stands on its site, erected 250 B.C. In those days 
they had no newspapers, and the king issued his edicts on 
stone. The inscriptions on this pillar call upon the public 
to erect hospitals, prevent cruelty to animals, etc. This old 
fort, and the one at Lucknow, in Northern India, were the 
only two that did not fall into the hands of the insurgents 
during the Sepoy rebellion in 1857. The English troops 
ate salt pork in the Musjid, or Mohammedan Mosque, and 
forever defiled it, according to the Prophet's decree. What 
a strange religion in contrast is that of the Brahmans ! The 

one refuses to eat the hog because the is in him, and 

the other, or Hindoo, worships him as Baraha, " the second 
incarnation of Vishnu, who rooted the world up from the 
bottom of the sea." In the temple close by the Old Fort- 
ress, dedicated to Baraha, we see the Hindoos bowing down 

* Edinburgh Beview, October, 1851. 



Cawnpore and Lucknow. 



331 



to his sacred snout, offering potatoes, rice, mangoes, and 
other delicious things to appease his wrath or secure per- 
petual favors. Women pour on the holy water, clipped up 
in the Ganges, and garland his head with flowers. About 
the market-place sit women, chattering like magpies, with 
tattooed faces, representations of fish, flowers, or fruit, on 
their foreheads. Their arms, necks, and bodies are also 
painted. This is done by tattooing, or pricking the skin, 
when quite young and inserting India ink. You see moth- 
ers carrying their brats in baskets on top of their heads or 
astride their hips in Allahabad. I have never heard one 
of these young bantlings squall yet. They seem to imbibe 
the very spirit of submission at their birth. While some of 
these women are gossiping, or selling fruit, another one, a 
little distance off, is engaged in making some "interesting 




STUDYING PHRENOLOGY. 



discoveries." She is evidently studying phrenological de- 
velopments, by the careful manner in which she examines 
her little girl's head. 



332 Around the World in 1884. 



The English have established magistrate or justice courts 
here as in Agra, in which the native can bring his griev- 
ances for adjudication. And he is always in court, so I was 
informed. Of course the legal oath is not binding, and the 
judge must swear the Hindoo by what he believes or holds 
sacred. The Ganges or the hog will do. The Hindoo 
makes a capital lawyer and a subtle witness. He displays 
an immense deal of cunning in the management of his cases. 
1 We crossed the Jumna over a splendid iron bridge, and 
soon arrived at Mirzapoor, a town of seventy-five thousand 
inhabitants, situated on the Ganges. The adjacent country 
is very fertile, and lies like a table. This section produces 
a large part of the cotton crop shipped to England. In re- 
turn Manchester sends back her manufactured cottons and 
Birmingham her brass gods, just like we used to do when the 
North sent us back in exchange for our crop her wooden clocks 
and nutmegs, with plenty of cowhides to whip the negroes. 

Hy, yi! it looks as if the dak had taken a "dead set." 
Some push, others pull ears ; but the stubborn brutes won't 
go. The passengers will be left. 

There are fifty millions of people who trade at Mirzapoor. 
A curious incident is related which occurred here once, that 
shows the arbitrary power of caste among the Hindoos : A 
thoughtless Englishman, across the street one day, brought 
down his opera- glasses on an unveiled woman of high caste, 
who was walking in her garden for a bit of fresh air, with- 
out having taken the necessary precaution to cover her face. 
The result was she was disgraced — ruined forever. An 
Englishman saw her. Her heart-broken husband rushed 
over, and throwing himself prostrate before the English- 
man declared he was an outcast for life. This power of 
caste extends to the lowest servant. 

There is nothing like general housework done in India. It 
requires about one dozen Hindoos to wait on a foreigner or to 



Cawnpore and Luchnow. 



333 




I WOHfa GO. 

keep house. At first I thought it must require great wealth to 
live in India. But all these servants can he employed for 
about one dollar a day. Then it began to look like style. 
Every man would do a certain thing. If his father was a 
cook, he would be a cook; if a priest, a priest; a soldier, or 
a blacksmith. The punka-waller will fan you, the valet-boy 
brushes your clothes, the kitmagar sets and waits on the 
table, the sycee is the hostler, the bhisstee the water-bearer, 
the doby the wash-boy, the chipparassee the post-boy, the 
kans kans kattie the cooling-boy, and the mollie is your 
gardener. In front of your house, or bungalow, there is a 
matting called kass kass, which it is necessary to keep wet 
all the time to modify the intense heat reflected from the 
glare of the sun. The kans kans kattie is the coolie who 
does this work. No amount of money or influence could 
change him into a kitmagar, or a kitmagar into a punka- 
waller. These are curious facts, but they are very true. 
Forty miles below Mirzapoor we change cars at Mogul 



334 Around the World in 188^. 

Serai for Benares, five miles distant. I saw numerous jack- 
als skulking along the road, but no game. There is a bird 
called the tailor-bird, that sews the leaves of trees together 
in building its nest. Another, known as the weaver-bird, 
weaves its nest and hangs it below a limb, out of all dan- 
ger. The golden oriole, the minar, the humming-bird, and 
other richly colored birds, are found throughout India. 

Bayard Taylor went into ecstasy over the beauty of Ben- 
ares. Except the imposing structures which rise along the 
high banks of the Ganges, whose splendid minarets and 
domes dominated the surrounding landscape, I saw nothing 
overwhelming in its appearance. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Benares, its Shrines and Temples. 

WE enjoy the finest view of the river and city from the 
bridge of boats. Taking a row-boat, we glide along 
past its bathing and burning ghats, its mosques and temples, 
for a mile. The Ganges is three hundred yards wide, prob- 
ably broader, and the bank on which Benares is built rises 
one hundred feet or more above the water. The city boasts 
of three hundred thousand inhabitants and five thousand 
shrines and temples. It is to the Hindoos what Jerusalem 
is to the Christians, or Mecca is to the Mohammedans — the 
holiest of all the sacred places on earth. It looks back into 
the hoary ages of antiquity three thousand years or more. 
It may be as old as Damascus. It was a city when David 
tended his father's flocks around the hills of Bethlehem. 
The sight of its sacred places and temples has awakened the 
deepest emotions in the hearts of countless millions of pil- 
grims. Early in the morning we see them descending the 
broad flight of stone steps that lead down from their temples 



Benares, Us Shrines and Temples. 



335 




THE SACRED STREAM. 



into the river. They bathe their bodies, even wash their 
scanty clothing; pour out water to the sun god; men and 
women bathing together. The Ganges is shallow some dis- 
tance from shore, so great elephants are led out and bathe 
too. The water is very holy at this particular point, its 
cleansing powers being simply miraculous. The Hindoos 
declare it will even save a Christian. It is to India what 
the river Jordan is to Palestine. The Hindoos believe it 
flows out of heaven. Let us return now, take a gharry, 
and drive up the steep bank to the summit, then along its 
shores. The heat and dust are insufferable. The thermom- 
eter is ranging about a hundred. Benares ought to be a 
city of ice factories instead of heathen temples. The bottled 
soda and fruit trade revived along our route, but the soda 
was the vilest stuff I ever drank, and every vessel I drank 
out of the Hindoo threw it away ; it was ruined. I felt like 
destroying that Hindoo. They are as vile as their religion 



336 Around the World in 188.$. 

and superstition. Here they were worshiping bulls, riv- 
ers, the sun, monkeys, the peafowl and other birds. These 
were all sacred ; but that little mug I drank out of was de- 
filed. The oranges, mangoes, and bananas were delicious. 
I had bought twenty-three bananas for one cent and a half. 
I saw many little wooden shops and bazaars, shrines and 
temples, with figures of a bull or cow in front. Many pri- 
vate residences of more pretentious architecture boasted of 
these sacred representations. There were carved images of 
their gods almost before every door. These are for family 
worship. In their temples they worship their holy trinity 
— images of Brahma, Mahadeo, and Vishnu. These appear 
to be the principal gods worshiped in Benares, besides the 
idols already mentioned. Bishop Marvin gives a deplora- 
ble account of their morals and religion, which my ow ? n ob- 
servation confirms. His ideas are suggestive of my opinions 
on this branch of the subject. He says the Hindoo religion 
is wanting in every moral element, depraved and full of 
lust. Women said to be married to the gods dance in front 
of the temples. A girl thus chosen is highly distinguished 
among her sex. During the annual festivals given hei-e 
these lascivious damsels, I am told, draw immense crowds, 
filling the exchequer of the temple. Their performances 
are said to rival the " can-can " at the " Jardin Mabille " in 
Paris. Behold those gods, if you please: sleek, well-fed, 
clean, shaven-headed, yellow-robed priests. Patrons of Ma- 
hadeo, the god of lust, they will bear watching. The Hin- 
doo first began to worship his idea of life, then fell to wor- 
shiping its source, which ended in deifying lust. The priests 
are a vile set. The poor, Avretched working-women of India 
are the only class you will see outside the zenanas. "No- 
body will trust his wife in India." As to the men, from the 
rajah down to the baboo gentleman — "beware, beware; I 
told you so ! " Who are the baboos? They are the learned, 



Benares, its Shrines and Temples. 



337 




THE DYING BRAHMAN. 



wealthy, educated classes. Many of them read and speak 
English fluently, and their ancient Sanskrit that belongs to 
their "fables, bows and arrows." They can even read 
Greek, Latin, and the Rig Veda — the Bible of the Hin- 
doos. Thousands of these baboos have gathered here to 
22 



338 Around the World in I884. 

spend a life of ease, fashion, and luxury — like the Ameri- 
cans who go to Paris to spend the remainder of their days. 
Their palaces and stuccoed houses, with charming gardens 
and fountains, are among the most splendid I have seen in 
Benares. Even this class cannot escape the imputation 
charged against the priesthood. 

I visited the Golden Temples of Bishewar and Bhairo- 
nath, the Well of Fate, the Musjid of Aurungzebe, the 
celebrated tank, and the Durga, or Monkey Temple. In a 
large court opening out in front of the Golden Temple, I 
saw a number of beautiful cows they actually worship. 
There were small images of this divinity, in brass, I could 
have purchased from the priest. "A Hindoo woman passes 
before a large stone image of his bovineship, bowing, and 
sprinkling water from the Ganges on his legs and divine 
hoofs. Bouquets of fresh flowers are tied on his horns and 
tail, while his neck is festooned, and little bunches are stuck 
in his holy nostrils. This golden pagoda of the holy bull, 
in the court of Biseswara, is one of the sights of Benares. 

Great white oxen walk down the steps of the bathing 
ghats with the Hindoos into the Ganges. This shiva, or 
divinity of the bull, is fed every day with melons, rice, 
wheat, etc. Of course the image eats nothing, but the 
priests gather up the contributions for their pockets. This 
temple is generally crowded with women, who are seeking 
the favors of the Mahadeo. Bishop Marvin observes : " The 
symbols under which this last are worshiped are too gross 
to be named." These women in India show as great pas- 
sion for motherhood as the women "did once in the mount- 
ains of Judea, three thousand years ago." In the same in- 
closure I looked down into the Well of Knowledge, where, 
according to tradition, some ancient god sought refuge once. 
Here sat an old priest drawing up the holy water for the 
pilgrims, in which decaying flowers, grain, etc., came near 



Benares, its Shrines and Temples. 



339 



paralyzing my olfactories. These poor, silly, superstitious 
people were actually buying the water from the priest. I 
drove on a mile farther to the great tank in which is sit- 
uated the celebrated temple dedicated to Hunnooman, the 




don't look. 



monkey god. This god was an ancient warrior, who con- 
quered Ceylon "early in Indian history, and whose inhab- 
itants he found so small he compared them to monkeys." 
This warrior was afterward deified, and has been wor- 
shiped ever since as the monkey god. His memory is per- 
petuated in-brass images, ivory, wood, and stone, in thou- 



840 Around the World in 1884. 

sands of temples throughout India. There are said to be 
no less than thirty thousand pagan temples in Bombay 
Presidency alone, a large number of which are dedicated to 
this god. I was a little doubtful about approaching this 
pagoda. Before I reached Benares, from what I learned, 
there were supposed to be several thousand monkeys sitting 
in the tree-tops, hanging by their tails, or stealing fruit out 
of some old woman's basket. The guide-books all declared 
the place as infested with monkeys. A rumor had just 
reached me from ISfagpore that an Englishman had been 
literally torn into doll-rags by a lot of these vagabonds. 
As I was making the tour of India with a pair of trousers 
and a duster, it somewhat alarmed me. But I never was 
more agreeably surprised, when I entered the gate to the tem- 
ple-grounds, to find several monkeys running to meet me. I 
gave them rice and bananas. There was one unconverted old 
heathen who became greatly alarmed at my approach. She 
made the top of the pagoda at two bounds, and showing her 
teeth at me disclosed a little bantling clinging to her bosom. 
She probably concluded I was trying to kidnap the young- 
ster. In the temple there is a hideous idol, with a lamp 
burning before it. Several worshipers enter, offer flowers, 
sprinkle water, and walk out, touching a bell. Then they 
walk around the temple, in the usual manner of worship. 
A few old men sit about the premises, smeared with paint 
and a red streak across their foreheads, holding out their 
hands for contributions. The pilgrims bathe in the large 
tank, or pool, close by, which they descend by flights of 
stone steps. Some of the monkeys are disposed to dispute 
the right to their territory. They run up the trees, sit on 
the fence, and jump on the wall, for a skirmish with the 
foreigners. They all seem to be a degenerate species, de- 
scended from illustrious ancestors. They probably belong 
to the "spider family." 



Benares, its Shrines and Temples. 



341 




SCENE AT MONKEY TEMPLE IN BENARES. 



342 



Around the World in 1884. 




CONTESTED GROUND. 



"Benares is the Paris of India in fashion, taste, and cult- 
ure. It is the Athens of Greece in science, learning, and 
philosophy." The broad steps of the bathing ghats are 
thronged morning and evening with men and women, "the 
youth, beauty, and fashion," to gossip and discuss the events 
of the day, remarks the Rev. C. C. Coffin. The Brahmans, 
or priestly caste, have ghats of their own. There is an im- 
mense deal of scrubbing and swabbing out of ears, nose, and 
mouth with the holy mud and water. Near the burning 
ghats were conical stones set upright to show where the sut- 



Benares, its Shri?ies and Temples. 343 

tee had once occurred, when the widow had preferred to be 
burned alive with her husband rather than live. A little 
ghee, or butter, is used in burning the body among the rich, 
which the poor cannot afford. After the Hindoo dead are 
thus burned their ashes are thrown into the Ganges. 

Where the population is so dense, as it is in India, with 
a tropical climate to contend with, cremation may be justi- 
fied on sanitary grounds. Though it is not a Christian 
burial, it seems far preferable to the Mohammedan method 
of burying the body in the sand without a coffin. Thou- 
sands of bones may be seen in their grave-yards, dug up 
and picked by the jackals, throughout India. The bodies 
of little children are often thrown into the Ganges with- 
out having been burned at all. It is said the alligators are 
observed sometimes struggling over the dead bodies floating 
down the Ganges. 

My guide showed me a whole street devoted to work in 
brass. Here the Hindoos sit cross-legged, with their rude 
tools, manufacturing the vessels they drink out of, eat from, 
cook in, and in which they bear on their heads the holy water 
from the Ganges. They are fond of engraving or carving 
some favorite god, especially on the bells they make. They 
also manufacture many of their favorite divinities worshiped 
in the temples. 

My guide carried me down a very narrow lane, scarcely 
six feet wide, with tall houses on either side, towering above 
us, to see a temple and an old mosque, very celebrated. The 
temple was full of idols and bells, with lamps burning be- 
fore the altar. The interior was carved in bass-relief, rep- 
resenting many objects of Hindoo worship. I was not al- 
lowed to enter the temple, but one of the priests ran out 
and threw a wreath of flowers over my head. I gave him 
a little backshish, and he went away perfectly happy. Ex- 
tending our walk to the banks of the Ganges, we ascended 



344 Around the World in 188 If. 

by a narrow, steep flight of stone steps to the flat roof of the 
mosque Madoo-rai-ke-dharara. Its two slender white min- 
arets rise two hundred and twenty -five feet above the ground. 
The mosque is little used now. From these minarets the 
muezzin formerly called the faithful to prayer. In front 
I saw immense bee-hives, or wasp-nests, one hundred feet 
above the ground, from which there issued an incessant buzz 
like distant thunder. The minarets command a landscape 
of rare beauty. 

The Brahma and the Prophet do not agree any more 
than the Jews and Samaritans did in ancient times. Ben- 
ares is a Hindoo city now, and this old mosque — probably 
built out of Hindoo temples torn down in the eleventh cent- 
ury by the Mohammedans — is little used at present. 

The city of Benares appears, like Delhi, to have shifted 
its site many times in the past thirty centuries, "probably 
owiDg to the fickle Ganges." One of the oldest sites is at 
Sarnath, four miles distant, which we can see from this 
lofty minaret. We can see an immense tower, or mound, 
constructed of brick ten by sixteen inches, according to 
Dr. Hendrix, who measured them. The outside is cased 
with carved stone, secured by iron clamps. Buddha, like 
King Asoka, whether by his edict or those who followed 
him, seems to have left these testimonials to his life. This 
is one of four pillars of this kind erected that remains. It 
measures ninety-three feet at the base, and rises more than 
one hundred feet in height. Here Buddha taught his dis- 
ciples six hundred years before Christ was born, promul- 
gating his doctrines against the idolatry of the Brahmans, 
which too was carved on these towers or pillars. Finally 
Buddha's image was placed upon the carved stonework of 
the monuments and worshiped. ' Then his image Avas set 
up in the temples, for when Buddhism ceased to be a pro- 
test against idolatry it lost its power, observes Dr. Hendrix. 



Benares, its Shrines and Temples. 345 

Immediately below us nestles the city of Benares, with its 
vast expanse of tiled roofs, minarets, and spires, and the 
domes of its five thousand pagodas, shrines, and temples. 
Four hundred feet below me rolls the mighty Ganges. Y> T e 
can trace its course for miles away, through green fields, 
fertile meadows, and groves of palms. Beyond the city are 
the gardens and native villages, conspicuous for their white 
pagodas ; and away to the north-west the lofty Himalayas 
lift their snowy summits in unapproachable grandeur. We 
can hear the hum of thousands of voices and tramp of many 
feet below us. From this lofty balcony the muezzin calls 
to prayer. But Buddhism received its death-blow from the 
Mohammedanism which forced it south to Ceylon, then east 
into China and Japan, where it made millions of converts. 
It, too, is rapidly declining. The dominant religion to-day 
is Brah manism, or Hindooism, which existed before Bud- 
dhism in India. It, too, is yielding rapidly to the superior 
forces of European civilization, the mission and Government 
schools, colleges, telegraphs, telephones, railroads, and 
Church work. Two millions or more of Christian converts 
are among the fruits of this great revolution now in prog- 
ress. Here in ^Benares, where all the power of Hindooism, 
with its vile religion, seems concentrated, the missionary 
work has accomplished but little. The proscription of re- 
ligion is as unrelenting among the Hindoos as it is among 
the Mormons in Salt Lake City. Let a Hindoo become a 
Christian and he is an outcast for life. He loses mother, 
father, wife, and children, to say nothing of the loss of his 
property. A German missionary informed me he knew a 
wealthy baboo gentleman, converted thirty years ago, who 
had never been recognized since by his wife or children. 
But the baboo holds on to Christ against the oppositions of 
his idolatrous family. 

When this temple worship in Benares is broken up, 



346 Around the World in 188J/.. 

Othello's occupation is gone. The business of the city and 
its religion — the manufacture of heathen gods, selling of 
holy water to the millions of pilgrims, images of wood and 
brazen gods — with thirty thousand Brahman priests, who 
guard the religious interests of its shrines and temples, con- 
stitute it a veritable stronghold of Brahmanism. But there 
is a marked difference discernible even among these bigoted 
priests, who thirty-five years ago had only to clap their 
hands when the poor sudra was approaching to see him fly 
in dismay, and sometimes throw himself into the river for 
fear of polluting the holy man's presence. 

About four miles north of the Ganges is the Cantonment, 
or European quarter, where the English troops and a few 
missionaries reside. There is a good hotel in this part of 
the city; but I returned across the river to the railroad sta- 
tion, where I awaited my train for Calcutta. I had seen no 
" tourist " during the day, or any one, except my guide and 
another Hindoo, who could even understand a word I would 
say. I was getting very lonesome under such surroundings. 
You can appreciate the pleasant change at the station on 
my meeting two English boys — one a telegraph operator, 
and the other a bright lad of sixteen summers — who ex- 
tended me a cordial welcome. The lad entertained me 
with stories of Hindoo life, manners and customs of this 
historic race, until late at night. He was a son of an En- 
glish officer living in the Cantonment. He described the 
annual festival given to Pruyag, the moon god. The barber- 
shops scattered up and down the Ganges among millions 
of pilgrims, shaving of heads and casting in the hairs for 
heaven during the mela, I have already noticed at Allaha- 
bad. He told me every Hindoo living in sight of Benares 
believes when he dies he will go straight to heaven. He 
had seen old men, eighty and ninety years old, who had 
traveled for days and weeks to reach the sacred Ganges, 



Benares, its Shrines and Temples. 347 

topple off its banks into the river and float away on its 
bosom, dead, to heaven. I have seen these Brahman priests, 
after every hair had been removed from the Hindoo's head 
and cast into the river, tie a white string called the sacred 
cord around their necks and insure them entrance into par- 
adise. He remarked he had often heard that the priest, 
after tying this sacred cord, had power of life and death 
over his subject, but did not know how true it was. 

" Tell me something about marrying in India, won't you ? " 
Certainly. Everybody marries here in India — I mean the 
natives; it is a disgrace not to be married. The old folks 
always make the matches here. There is no moonlight sail- 
ing on the Gauges, or buggy drives down the boulevards of 
Benares. There is no chance to make a "mash" here. Ev- 
ery boy and girl is married before they know it. They are 
engaged by their parents at three to five, and never wear 
the veil until married. They never marry out of their 
caste. The celebration of this event occurs at ten to twelve 
years of age. In the meantime they may never have seen 
each other. The marriage is celebrated with the greatest 
pomp possible. They will sell or mortgage the last rupee's 
worth of property to have a street pageant, which consists 
of a bridal car made in the shaj>e of a peafowl, one of their 
favorite divinities. In front goes the piper and behind the 
priest, with lighted torches at the head of the procession. 
All the friends join in the festivities, make presents, and 
do honor to the newly married couple. If he is rich, he 
puts his wife into the zenana, where no other man will 
ever see her ; if he is poor, he and his bride take a horse- 
back ride together, then go to their village huts to scuffle 
for a bare living. The wife works in the field, and her 
husband sits up in the house cross-legged and does the fam- 
ily sewing. If she dies, he can marry again. If he dies, 
she used to throw herself with him upon the funeral pyre 



348 



Around the World in I884. 




WEDDING PROCESSION. 



and perish with him. But she cannot do that now. Our 
Government has abolished the suttee, and she lingers out 
•&, life of drudgery, disgrace, and ruin. If her betrothed 
dies before she ever marries him, she is a widow for life. 

" How do you like India ? " O very well ; but it is awfully 
hot here. We can keep cool pretty well with the punka- 
boy and ice. You know we have no frost or winter; it is 
•always spring. Our seasons are wet and dry, but our fall 
and winter months are perfectly delicious in Benares. 
Everybody who can get away goes to the mountains, or : 
home on furlough, during the hot season, which begins inj 
April and ends in October. The natives can stand any 
thing. 



Benares, its Shrines and Temples. 



349 



"What about cholera?" O it is fearful here among the 
Hindoos. If it were not for cholera and famine, India and 
China would soon become so populous the people could not 
live. Everybody marries ; everybody nearly has children. 
On the banks of this river, the Ganges, is the birthplace 
of Asiatic cholera. It originates at these festivals I have 
been describing to you. About five hundred miles up the 




MIDNIGHT FESTIVAL. 



Ganges, at Hurdwar, in the Punjab, is its favorite nursery. 
It does not naturally exist or originate there; but these 
semi-annual festivals seem to develop it. As many as three 
million pilgrims have assembled at Hurdwar on these oc- 
casions. Day and night the continuous stream pours in on 



350 Around the World in 1884. 

the sandy plain, nearly all on foot, by every thoroughfare, 
from every part of India. There is no sanitary protection. 
They huddle like swine. Occasionally a great rajah, with 
his caravan of elephants, camels, horsemen, and swords- 
men, in all the stately grandeur of Indian royalty, rides 
down the poor wretches under foot for blocking the way. 
Many have died on the roads before reaching Hurdwar, 
Once here, they rush into the Ganges, scoop up the water in 
their hands, and drink as long as they can stand. They are 
fed daily from the temple kitchens, where eighty thousand 
cooks are employed. The food not eaten every day is 
sacred ; it is kept over, and cannot be thrown away. The 
hot water, sand, heat, and stale food produce indigestion. 
Derangement sets in. They begin to die, are covered over 
in the sand, and returning die along the roads by thousands. 
The streets of villages are blocked where they lie in heaps 
and perish. The result is cholera. From the interior it 
reaches the sea-ports, and is then carried westward by the 
shipping and returning pilgrims. Mecca, which you passed 
on your left coming down the Red Sea, is another hot-bed 
from which cholera spreads. Between Delhi and Benares 
lies the North-west Province; between Benares and Cal- 
cutta, Bengal. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Down the Ganges. 

IT is more than five hundred miles from Benares to Cal- 
cutta. In a few miles we reach Mogul Serai, and change 
cars for our destination. An American conductor very 
kindly assigned me to a compartment by myself, where I 
could enjoy the remainder of the night in a peaceful sleep. 
This gentleman is the only American I have seen since 
meeting my friend Henry Ballantyne, of Bombay. The 



Down the Ganges. 351 



officials generally are a very attentive class. They are us- 
ually polite, and use the word "kindly" very often — "Will 
you kindly take your seat?" Every passenger takes his 
baggage on the seat with him, unless it be too bulky. Then 
for a couple of pice — less than a cent — the coolie, A\ho is al- 
ways convenient, carries it to the baggage-box. There is 
no such institution as the " baggage-smasher " in India. 

The Government owns the telegraph lines, and you can 
send a telegram like a letter for a fixed price to any point 
in British India — for about one rupee, or fifty cents, for ten 
words, including address. The natives are largely employed 
in this service; and what seems a little odd, night messages 
here are charged double rates, instead of half as in America. 
An engineer is called a driver, who keeps his eye constantly 
out the left window to see that the track is clear ahead. 
An omnibus in India passes to the left, instead of the right 
as with us. A conductor, I told you, is called a guard, as 
in England. Every native knows that to be an employe he 
must be able to speak English. 

The present Governor-general, Lord Ripon, has recently 
incurred the displeasure of his English subjects in some 
discriminations he has made in favor of the natives. The 
opinions of the English, I find, are very low as to the average 
Indian. The coolie is a beast of burden. The Bengalese 
are by nature and instinct, the Englishman says, liars and 
thieves. These people are sometimes badly treated by their 
English masters. I have myself seen them kicked about, 
and have listened to stories of Englishmen who had given 
some Hindoo a good drubbing, or " pounding," as he had 
declared the native deserved. Our freedman is a lord com- 
pared to the coolie of India. I have seen slavery in Cuba 
and in my own country, but it was mild compared to the 
servile labor of Hindoostan. Lord Macaulay, in his histo- 
ry, gives a doleful account of the Bengalese. He makes 



'352 Around the World in 188 4.' 

him a "hero of lies and champion of theft." A Hindoo 
was one day asked who was the smartest man in India. 
"My son," he promptly replied. "Why?" "Because he 
can beat his father lying." But I like the Hindoo. He 
constantly soothes my ear with that old familiar expression 
of " master." I begin to feel wealthy again. Could it be pos- 
sible that the earth in making its revolutions from west to 
cast had just changed our geographical position? At every 
station, it seemed, we saw the old Georgia darky, with the 
kinks combed out of his head, cultivating cotton, corn, wheat, 
rice, sweet potatoes, water-melons, and " goobers " away off 
here in India. " Good master," they would say. I saw some 
who looked like Jake, old Dick, Ned, and Millyan, I used 
to own. I thought, What a wonderful change twenty years 
has made in my people ! They all appeared to have for- 
gotten how to speak the dear old language, and only remem- 
bered " master." George and Sarah Ann had fallen into care- 
less habits about their dress. They did not appear to have 
any clothes on worth mentioning. All had gone astray after 
heathen gods, and no longer reveled in fat pork, pease, hoe- 
cake, and potatoes. I looked into a little temple close 
b} T and found old Dick worshiping the image of a hog. 
Twenty years ago he would have destroyed that animal in 
a few minutes. I could not account for all this transmigra- 
tion, this sudden change, until I awoke from a dream. 

We pass through the great opium-producing region of 
India — the beautiful level lands of Behar, producing the 
white poppy from which opium is made. This species 
yields a white flower with a single petal. Every evening 
the pod is pierced, and early next morning the coolies pass 
along the rows, scrape off what has oozed out the night be- 
fore. This juice is then dried into cakes, packed in boxes, 
and sold at the monthly sales in Patna and Calcutta. Later 
in the day fields of rice alternated with the poppy, since the 




MOUNTAINS OF INDIA. 



Down the Ganges. 353 



fields of wheat and barley have disappeared. There are 
patches of tobacco and oats, and many strips of sorghum, 
millet, and genuine sugar-cane of diminutive size. I have 
seen considerable lands devoted to the Palma Christi, or 
castor-oil bean, which, like the poppy, grows so well in 
< Georgia. 

We pass numerous villages of straw houses daubed with 
mud. The huts often stand so close together that foot- 
passengers have just enough room to go between. They 
present an appearance of utter confusion. Very often 
the sides and roof of the lowly thatched cottage are con- 
structed entirely of palm-leaves. We see cotton-patches in 
April still in bloom, full of women and children picking 
out the fleecy staple. The seeds are sown broadcast, as de- 
scribed on the west coast of India. Tall palms wave their 
feathery plumes over the level landscape, with the nuts 
clinging to the body just below the limbs. The natives 
running up and down these toees after the nuts, which they 
gather and tie around their waists, resemble monkeys at a 
short distance. They wear on their heels a strap with sharp 
spikes bristling out, which enables them to make the ascent 
and descent very rapidly. Mustard is extensively culti- 
vated, and shipped to Italy to adulterate the olive-oil, while 
another oil-bearing plant (an annual) called seasame enters 
largely into the exports of India. No less than eighty- 
seven thousand tons of its seed were shipped last year to 
France for adulterating olive-oil. Two crops a year can 
be grown, requiring twelve seed to weigh an ounce. Next 
to cotton and opium, indigo probably is the most profitable 
crop cultivated in Lower Bengal. Thirty dollars per acre 
net profit is realized. English capital and farmers are 
largely engaged in its production. Sometimes ten miles 
square is farmed out among the ryots, who work two or 
three miles around their villages. 
23 



8o4 Around the World in 1884. 

We are now in the latitude of Cuba, traveling every day 
toward the equator. Groves of delicious mangoes, resem- 
bling an apple-orchard, break the monotony of the land- 
scape. Cocoa-nuts and bananas are very abundant, clus- 
tering about the native villages, while the vast expanse of 
the country presents an unbroken rice-field. Little ter- 
races, or ditches, are constructed to hold the water, and it 
is astonishing to see what crops this Valley of the Ganges 
produces, cultivated as it has been for two thousand years 
in the rudest way, without any manures whatever. All 
grain is planted in rows, and cut with a sickle. Not a straw 
or head is lost. Cotton-stalks are burned for fuel; trees 
dug up by the roots and sold by the pound, as in China. 
Even the animal manures are carefully dried and trans- 
ported on donkeys to market, driven by the poor women, 
who, like the little brutes they follow, are very degraded. 
Often the poor Hindoos are compelled from necessity to use 
these dried cakes for cooking, and cremation of their dead. 
A woman and a donkey stand on the same level in India. 

Messrs. Cummings and Ashford, of the East India Rail- 
way Company, inform me they pay their hands each four 
to five rupees per month, the hands finding themselves. Me- 
chanics get eight to ten rupees per month, while labor for 
making cotton receives only two annas by the village, six 
cents each a day for women, and children four cents, finding 
themselves. They say white mustard is sown with wheat to 
prevent rust in Northern India. 

I met Mr. Burgess, a most interesting English indigo- 
planter, who has spent many years with the Hindoos, liv- 
ing alone with them in their villages. He speaks Bengalee 
fluently. From his account the nobility, native princes 
(rajahs), and the railroads own most of the lands in his 
section, which are all cultivated by bullocks. As soon as 
the rains begin in May cr June the land is broken and sown 



Down the Ganges. 355 



in drills, or broadcast. In this way three crops of linseed, 
mustard, and gram are produced in one year, being cul- 
tivated by villages. The rajah who owns the land rents to 
the ryot, who sub-lets it to the village. A bigah of land is 
equal to one-third of an acre, and fifteen thousand bigahs, 
or five thousand acres, is the usual amount of land culti- 
vated by a village. It costs for rent one rupee and four 
annas per acre (sixty-two and a half cents). An addition- 
al tax of two pice, or nearly one cent, is levied on each 
baud for working public roads. 

Mr. Burgess confirms all I had heard of caste among 
these strange people. He observed a low caste Hindoo one 
day pass near by a high caste man cooking his dinner. Un- 
fortunately the shadow of the low caste man fell on the pot. 
It was immediately emptied of its contents, as those vegeta- 
bles were everlastingly ruined. They will not drink out of 
or eat from any vessel used by a lower caste than themselves. 

Mr. Burgess had witnessed many a burial. The Hindoo 
selects a river-bank, if a stream is near. .The hands of the 
dead man are first bent backward and tied, the body is then 
placed on a raised platform upon a pile of fagots, or wood. 
A little ghee, or butter, is poured over the corpse, which 
hastens the cremation. If yellow fever or small-pox is epi- 
demic, the victim is always hurried away a little before 
death and placed upright first in a deep hole dug in the 
ground — is never allowed to die in the house. In all the 
cities they have burning ghats. 

Mr. Burgess says all his girls are engaged to be married. 
They tie a little red string around their necks to indicate 
their engagements. They all wear them. If a Hindoo 
makes five rupees a month he will save three. If a Mo- 
hammedan earns three he will spend six. The Hindoos are 
vegetarians; the Mohammedans eat meat, and are the ag- 
gressive race of India. 



35fi Around the World in I884. 

Doing penance is an ancient custom among the Hin- 
doos. It is a frightful form of punishment. For illustra- 
tion : If a Hindoo neglects his cow and she dies, he must do 
penance. The priest says: "You must go to a temple a 
thousand miles away. Every step must be measured." To 
do this the poor criminal is furnished a stick to measure the 
length of his arm when he has thrown his body prostrate 
on the ground. Rising and placing his feet at the distauce 
measured, he throws himself again full-length upon his face 
and hands until he reaches — if ever he does — the pagoda, 
where he will obtain forgiveness. He is fed along the way. 
But very few ever reach their destination. 

I always imagined a jungle in India an impenetrable 
swamp, full of tigers, lions, cobras, and elephants. I never 
more can be mistaken. Any waste land here is called a 
jungle. It need not have a tree or swamp on it. A jungle 
is associated with the wild boars which the Englishman is 
so fond of hunting. This sport occurs in mango- time, when 
the boars are very tender and sweet, but are mostly hunted 
in our winter months as well. The sport is called "pig 
sticking." It is the passion of the English gentry ; and 
even their ladies, I believe, often follow in the exciting 
chase. This wild hog is a native of India. When he is 
hunted the natives are employed to drive him out of the 
scrub of grass, or jungle, when the exciting pursuit on 
horseback begins. The boar, vigorously pursued, soon 
turns upon his enemy in a hand-to-hand engagement. If 
the pig is stuck, that is the end of it ; but if the sportsman 
misses his deadly aim, the savage animal may cut down his 
horse to the ground by a single stroke of his monstrous 
tusk, I presume the sportsman then would be non in- 
ventus est. 

The pack-animals used in India are the buffalc, ox, cam- 
el, donkey, with an occasional mule switched into the pro- 



Down the Ganges. .357 



cession. The last is very rare. The donkeys, like those 
of Jaffa, are of a very small species. Some of them must 
be less than three feet high. And yet, like the ox and buf- 
falo, they bear their proportionate heavy burden. They 
water the streets in Bombay by oxen, from enormous leather 
sacks suspended from their backs on either side. I think 
the water must be poured in on top of their backs. A man 
walks along-side with his hand on the neck of the sack, 
which he flirts about, slackening his grip to shoot a jet out 
on the dusty street. This seems to answer the purpose 
about as well as a donkey does for a street-car in Cairo. 

The native carts look as odd as their variety is great. 
The camel-wagons, on low wheels, with bottom story for 
freight and upper story for passengers, are a singular com- 
bination of incongruities. Then you see the old-fashioned 
truck-wheel, such as I used to saw r off of a log and bore a 
hole through the center when I was a boy. I have seen 
another jaunty little two-wheeler with a long pair of shafts 
for a pony, with a body of bamboo, and seat built over the 
axle. Sometimes the work on this turnout is quite elab- 
orate, but I think they ought to sell by the dozen at seven- 
ty-five dollars. 

Bishop Marvin has so well described that odd creature, 
that contradiction of nature called the camel, I must give 
him credit for the following account. It is capital : 

" Of all dumb brutes I have ever seen the camel is the 
most unshapely. With his long hind legs, barely tacked to 
his body ; the hump on his back like a hideous deformity ; 
his little, long, round neck, taking a start downward and 
then turning up as if drawn by a convulsion; the two 
straight fore legs set under the chest like stilts — he stands 
before you in an apologetic attitude, as if he were asking 
pardon of the universe for having been obtruded upon it. 
Add to this the miserable h ad, set on the upturned end of 



358 Around the World in 188%. 

the neck, with the facial line from the ear to the unhappy- 
looking nostrils level with the horizon, looking like a statue 
of misery, a mute, perpetual appeal for pity, and you have 
the ideal of ugly standing before you eight feet high." 

We pass near Golconda. Who has not heard of its fame 
and priceless treasure? It is situated in Hyderabad (Dec- 
can), and is famous for its old fort, in which the treasure 
of State is deposited. The Presidency, in 1881, boasted of 
ninety-one million souls. There are two clubs— civil and 
military — and a small hotel here. I defy a whole village 
to pronounce the name of the Rajah. It is enough to par- 
alyze a large community. Here is his card: MuzzafFur- 
ul-Mumulik Nizam -ul-Mulk- Nizam -nd-Dowlah, Nawab 
Mir Mahhub Ab Khan Bahadur, Fateh Jung. "0 carry 
me home to die ! " We will change his name. Let us call 
him Ned Brace, or Bill Arp. He was appointed last year 
by Governor-general Bipon to succeed some other Rajah 
who had died. I suppose his name was the death of him. 
The prospect seems good for another funeral soon. 

A little presence of mind is absolutely essential to travel 
through India. The safest way is to say " Good-day" and 
pass on. This country abounds in marvels. The following 
illustration of a statue in stone, seen along the banks of some 
rivers in the Deccan, demonstrates the stupidity of the idol' 
worship. These images are cut out of solid rock and erect- 
ed by wealthy natives upon a platform three or four feet in 
height — representatives of the sun god, I suppose. A tripod 
of sticks is arranged with a porous vessel above, through 
which water drops slowly upon the divinity to prevent sun- 
stroke. You will observe about these curious structures a 
man who is paid $2.50 a month for keeping the bottles filled 
with water. There was once a temple erected to the god 
of murders, called Kali, still standing on a hill near 
the city of Mirzapoor, already described, where the Thugs 




(358) 



CAMEL-RIDING IN INDIA. 



Down the Ganges. 



359 



once made their offerings to appease the wrath of this divin- 
ity for some horrible murder they would commit, first tum- 
bling their victim in the Ganges. It is one of the two tem- 
ples of the kind now standing in India. The English long 
since hunted down the last Thug in the country, and human 
life is as well protected here as in any part of the world. 




/O 







AFRAID OF SUN-STROKE. 

Resuming our journey to Calcutta, we pass rapidly 
through the lower part of Bengal, which appears to be de- 
voted exclusively to rice-growing. Cocoa-nuts and mon- 
keys abound, and we are conscious, too, of the presence of 
the tiger, which this province has made famous the world 
over. They are hunted by the natives in the silent, distant 



Around the World in 1884. 



jungles for their skins and the reward offered by the Gov- 
ernment. 

The prevailing food of the Bengalese is rice, which sells 
for one to two cents per pound. Fruit and vegetables are 
largely consumed by the natives. They cook the rice dry, 
and all the family eat out of the same bowl. At night they 
spread down their mats on the dirt floor, and all sleep to- 
gether. If they have company, or one of the daughters 
has just married, they are assigned places in the corner of 
the room. They have wraps and blankets seAved up like a 
bag at one end, into which each one puts his or her feet, 
pulling the other end over their heads and ears, often out 
of sight. They have no wash-bowls, towels, or soap, for the 
water is generally poured on the hands. I observed many 
brick-yards on the way, the women, as usual, molding the 
brick and bearing them on their heads to the yard to dry. 
It was late at night before our long train drew its great 
length under the magnificent station-house in Howrah. 
Our journey was ended. 



CHAPTER XXXV." 

Arrival in Calcutta — The Great Eastern Hotel 
and My Morning's Paper — Description — Sudden 
Departure. 

HOWRAH is in the suburbs of Calcutta, several miles 
distant from the Great Eastern Hotel, to which I hur- 
ried in a gharry across the river Hoogly. The night was 
dark and rainy, relieved by the occasional flash of a lamp 
that flickered on the way. Ascending a labyrinth of stair- 
cases, I could discover neither office nor landlord. I looked 
down the vista of retreating aisles that radiated from the 
great rotunda. They were filled with naked coolies, lying 



Brief Stay in Calcutta. 



361 



prostrate on their backs, whose moving feet up and down 
resembled the walking-beams of a ship in motion. These 
were the punka-wallers, moving the ventilating fans inside 
by a cord held tight between the large and second toes, that 
worked in a little putty overhead. Half of these coolies-, 
like their masters in the rooms, were fast asleep. Others 
were making spasmodic strokes. 




WORKING TIIE rUSKA STANDING UP. 

Since my arrival in Egypt, following the equatorial belt 
around, I have been more persuaded of the material as 
well as the spiritual importance of frequent ablutions. If 
a bath was indispensable to comfort in Egypt, it becomes 
an absolute necessity in India. TsTo wonder the Hindoo 
spends his happiest hours on the banks of his sacred rivers. 
As for me, I should prefer a traveling ice-house in India. 
I enjoyed a glorious bath in this roasting climate last night, 
before retiring to bed, in the sweetest solitude imaginable. 
There was nothing visible except the bath, soap, and towels. 
There was not a wave of sound that swept my ear except 



362 Around the World in 188 J^. 

the stroke of the punka-coolie, and that did not wake the 
chirping cricket. I stole quietly away to my sweet, luscious 
couch, Avhich consisted of a sheet, a pillow, and a mosquito- 
bar. Why, the very thought of a gossamer curtain would 
have oppressed me, with the thermometer as high as the 
Himalayas ! 

The following morning I was aroused with a stupefied 
sense of unconsciousness. I heard something — it was a 
confused articulation of sounds that woke the stillness of 
my ear. It was the newsman with an English paper. As 
I unfolded the journal the first article my eye rested upon 
was an editorial. It read as follows : 

" We are pained to announce the fearful ravages of small- 
pox, yellow fever, and the unpi-ecedented mortality from 
cholera in Howrah — four hundred and fifty-six deaths in 
twenty-four hours." 

"Jerusalem and Jericho ! I am a ruined community — an 
orphan in a foreign land." 

Rushing to the window I shouted at the retreating Hin- 
doo : " Hold on here, Colonel, one minute, please ! For Heav- 
en's sake, tell me quickly, where is Howrah? Four hun- 
dred and fifty-six in twenty-four hours! Desolation and 
everlasting ruin ! It seems like it will destroy the oldest 
inhabitant." 

"Well, master, which way did you come last night? By 
steamer or railroad?" 

"Well, yes, exactly; precisely so; by the East India 
Railroad from Benares, I suppose," replying hesitatingly. 

" Jes so, master ; you came right through Howrah." 

" My sainted grandfather ! " 

"Yes, master; dying by the thousands in Howrah. The 
whole atmosphere is contaminated." 

Elijah and the prophets ! It seemed that every bone in 
me began to ache at once. I felt most uncomfortable all 



Brief Stay in Calcutta. 363 

over — my arm fell almost paralyzed by my side. There 
Avas a general demoralization of the physical and moral 
forces, so to speak. I then concluded, perhaps, to take an- 
other bath ; perhaps to escape to Dargeeling, or Mount Ev- 
erest, whose snowy summits rested in the clouds. I then 
decided to take breakfast. 

I walked down the spacious hall and entered the vesti- 
bule. As I approached the grand saloon a half dozen Hin- 
doos beckoned me with snowy robes into luxurious seats. 
The table groaned under its burden of delicious fruits and 
every conceivable viand. The entire' saloon appeared one 
vast conservatory of beautiful flowers. The choicest fruits 
of India, the crispest salads, and lettuce from perennial gar- 
dens; savory mutton and joints of the juiciest roasts of 
beef, with fish, eggs, game, and poultry — delicious bread 
and butter, flashed before me. On either side the long ta- 
bles sat, in dignified reserve, the titled Englishman, with 
his queenly lady, and almost a hundred other persons of 
distingue appearance. On my right was a cynical old 
Scotchman, with polished manners and dignity that would 
have betrayed the elegant life and culture of Ben Jonson's 
times. I wanted to say something. I desired to inquire 
about the health of Calcutta. It seemed no possible cir- 
cumstance, by way of introduction, would suggest the sub- 
ject. Finally, I ventured to ask the price of bagging. I 
remembered that the gunny-cloth and jute with which we 
baled our cotton crop in Georgia came from Calcutta. He 
was probably a bagging merchant, a colonel or general in 
the army. I addressed him as Colonel. He begged my 
pardon, and declared that was not his title. I remonstrated 
with him. I tried General. He persisted in declining all 
honors. Had he been a Georgian I would have kindled in 
his bosom the liveliest enthusiasm. But he declared he pre- 
ferred to be called Mister. He was a very curious man. 



864 Around the World in 1884- 

I began by inquiring in a delicate way about the sanitary 
condition of Calcutta. He replied it was never better. I 
called his attention to the paragraph in the morning's pa- 
per. "O wa'all," he says, "there are a few spasmodic cases 
of cholera, but it amounts to narthing. It is confined to 
the natives in Howrah. We Europeans hardly ever have 
it. Don't be alarmed, my friend. Be just a little careful, 
perhaps, about Howrah." 

" But," says I, " I am alarmed. I feel like the spirit of a 
stampede is upon me — a rout, a riot. I should escape in a 
balloon in three minutes if I had a provocation. Four hun- 
dred and fifty-six in twenty-four hours! You are a very 
conservative class — you Europeans. Where is the Black 
Hole of Calcutta? I shall take a gharry for a steam-ship 
office, directly, and I don't care to go about that locality." 

"O," replied the Colonel, "that is filled up years ago. 
There is a beautiful monument, probably, on the spot now 
near the post-office building." 

"Do you know, then, of a steam-ship leaving Calcutta 
this morning — in the next half hour? It does not matter 
where. China, Japan, Australia, Europe, America; no, it 
is not possible to ever see America again. I had better try 
some country in which I can enjoy a Christian burial. I 
do n't care to be burned, or placed in the silent tower, or 
left in a Mohammedan grave-yard, where the jackals of 
India would exhume my bones." 

I employed a guide and gharry and hurried down to the 
Messageries steam-ship office. Frenchman: "Very sorry; 
we have no ship in ten days." Then to Apcar & Co., the 
great opium agents — two vessels just gone to China. I lost 
a good deal of time inquiring about the direction of How- 
rah. But presently we drove up in front of the Peninsular 
and Oriental (English) steam-ship office — the P. and O. line. 
We hurried up the stone steps to the second story of a mag- 



Brief Stay in Calcutta. ?>fio 

nificent building, down a broad aisle into spacious offices, 
where the punkas were in full swing. 

"Good-morning, sir; what can I do for you?" inquired 
the courteous old gentleman who was engaged in writing. 

"Have you a vessel leaving soon?" 

" Yes, sir ; to-morrow morning at five sharp, for Colombo." 

"Give me passage, please, to China." 

"I am very sorry, sir; we are quite full." 

" It does not matter, I am going. Deck or the smoke- 
stack, it does not matter." The old gentleman was evi- 
dently amused when I related my story to him. I secured 
a cabin ticket to Hong Kong. 

Calcutta has been called the city of palaces, from the 
many splendid structures (English) to be seen on its great 
thoroughfares. The back streets are narrow enough, pre- 
senting unsightly rows of two-story wooden frame houses, 
in which the natives live above and carry on their manu- 
factures and trade below. 

Calcutta is the second largest city in India, containing a 
half million population, while Bombay numbers fully eight 
hundred thousand inhabitants. It is the principal seat of 
government during our winter months, but in the summer 
the Governor, with all his records and aids-de-camp, moves 
up the country to Simla to pass the hot season. Few peo- 
ple except natives walk in Calcutta. I found the thermom- 
eter one hundred, or over, here in April. Ti.o ~o+;^, .:j. 
in palanquins borne on the shoulders of two men. I prefer 
the gharry — one-horse carriage — when cholera is about. It 
looks more like business. The Hindoos work in brass, ivory, 
wood, bone clay, and stone. The finest embroidery is done 
by hand here, as in Delhi. We saw a number of their ba- 
zaars, and found their salesmen more importuning to sell 
their goods than we had even seen at Agra or Delhi. I 
found many pretty works of art, made of sandal-wood and 



Sfifi Around the World in I884. 

richly carved, with a delicious scent this aromatic wood 
gives out. 

The hathing ghat and the burning ghat are located close 
on the banks of the Hoogly here, which is one of the nu- 
merous mouths of the Ganges. I saw hundreds of men and 
women in bathing, and the barber-shops lively on shore. 

No one can look at the Hindoo mode of burial without 
a feeling of horror. They have long poles with which 
they punch up the fire once in awhile. It is surprising to 
see what little time and small quantity of wood are required 
in the cremation of a single body. I have no doubt a Hin- 
doo would be equally shocked at our mode of interring the 
body in the ground and leaving it to decay. 

India has been ruled by many wise as well as tyrannical 
men. Among this number we may mention the names of 
Lord Cornwallis, Lord Clive, and Warren Hastings. Lord 
Cornwallis's fame rose as high here as it fell at Yorktown. 
The town-hall presents many striking portraits and statues 
of distingushed men. It is one of the grandest public build- 
ings in Calcutta. If you will compare the pictures of the 
Hindoos in this collection, you must at once be struck with 
the strong analogy they bear in feature to those of the Cau- 
casian race proper. If his skin was only white the Hin- 
doo, with his Grecian or aquiline nose, would be almost a 
perfect type of the " Indo-European race, or Aryan, as you 
may cenra u."' 

The Botanical Gardens— originated in 1786, while the 
East India Company was yet in power — contain two hun- 
dred and seventy-two acres, beautifully laid off with walks 
and broad avenues of palm-trees. Through this garden 
(experimental) cinchona and tea were first introduced into 
India. It contains a great variety of native shrubs and 
flowers, and many exotics from other countries. Here the 
wide-spreading banyan-tree, with its hundreds of aerial 



Brief Stay in Calcutta. 367 

roots, resembling strings dangling in the air from extended 
limbs seventy feet long, is to be seen in its native climate. 
When once these roots touch the ground, small at first as 
they enter it, they begin to grow, and in a few years be- 
come trees. We see a great variety of finer woods here, 
such as asoke, mahogany, peepul, etc. A monument to 
Gen. Kid, the founder of the garden, is conspicuous for 
its beauty and position. I walked through the Eden Gar- 
dens, named in honor of two ladies, Misses Eden, that were 
charmingly beautiful. 

We meet thousands of Hindoos throughout India with 
white and red chalk-marks running horizontally and ver- 
tically on their foreheads to denote they have been to the 
temple that day and have received a blessing from the priest. 

I did not have time to see the temple of Kali Ghat, just 
outside the city, where the wife of the murder god, we no- 
ticed near Mirzapoor, is worshiped. She is represented as 
holding an uplifted sword in one hand ready to decapitate 
some poor victim, while her bloody tongue is hanging out. 
I presume there was not much domestic felicity in a family 
where there was so much tongue. 

Most amusing scenes are witnessed at the market that 
fronts on four streets. It is a truly grand structure. All 
the meats and vegetables of Europe and America are offered 
for sale, with a fine supply of fish. But what interests you 
most is to see everybody on "the squat," and hear every- 
body shouting in his curious jargon. They have stalls for 
first, second, and third class beef. I thought of my man at 
Reware, with his second-class coffee. If he and this third- 
class steak man could strike a bargain, what an exhaustive 
business firm it would make! 

In 1770 no less than thirty millions of people perished 
in the Valley of the Ganges from famine. In 1866 nearly 
one million starved to death in Orissa and Southern India. 



368 Around the World in 188J+. 

But the Government now, by a system of railroads from 
the interior and steam navigation along the coast, is enabled 
to relieve almost any suffering of this kind. 

I find the American missionary work was begun here as 
early as the year 1828. The Catholics were established at 
Goa, which is still the center of their operations in India, 
one hundred years or more before this period. They have 
always realized eminent success because "they gratified the 
native taste for ceremony and display." The entire Bible 
has been translated into fourteen different languages and 
dialects of India. In Calcutta, as well as in other parts of 
India, there is a great desire among the natives, both Hin- 
doos and Mohammedans, to study English. Many large 
schools, under missionary influence and the Government, 
are in successful operation. The zenanas are now easily 
reached by the missionary women, and much good work 
and many conversions are crowning their efforts. There is 
the school of useful arts and others I cannot mention. Some 
intelligent natives who renounce idolatry become Deists, or 
Pantheists, rather than Christians, I have seen stated. This 
class read the works of John Stuart Mill, Theodore Parker, 
and others, according to Mr. Coffin. 

Women afflicted with devils kneel before an image and 
cross while the priest relieves them of their wicked spirits 
by plucking out handfuls of hair. Sometimes six, eight, 
and even twelve devils are got rid of in this way. 

If I had time I would visit the Dargeeling hills — one hun- 
dred and ninety-eight miles, or twenty-four hours, from 
here — to enjoy a view of the snow-clad Himalayas. Mrs. 
Ballantyne, of Bombay, the Avife of my friend, is spending 
the summer on their beautiful slopes, seven thousand feet 
above the sea. Dargeeling is reached by a circular railroad 
from the plain below, said to be the most marvelous piece 
of engineering in the world. Ten thousand feet above Dar- 



Brief Stay in Calcutta. 369 

geeling is Kinchenjunga, and twelve thousand feet still 
higher rises Mount Everest, the loftiest peak in the world. 

It was quite two o'clock before I returned to the Great 
Eastern "for tiffin." I made my toilet hastily and hurried 
iuto the saloon, hoping to find the Colonel dining. I had 
heard more news of the most damaging character. Well, 
turning the joke on me, as I approached he casually re- 
marked: "What is the latest, Colonel? What have you 
heard since breakfast?" 

" Pardon me, please, Mister ; I have some very unfavor- 
able intelligence to communicate." 

I was pretty sui-e now he was a bagging merchant. As 
for myself, I cherished a worthy pride in the exalted title 
he had given me. I remembered once I was a colonel in 
the Georgia militia, and the bloody fields of battle I had 
waded through. the martial spirit was upon me! 

"And you have heard something rambling around the 
city, eh?" 

"Yes, sir; I heard the proprietor of this hotel died the 
other day from cholera!" 

"0 yes, Colonel; it was a little unfortunate, poor fel- 
low!" 

"Well," says I, with a determined look, "that's not all. 
I heard the gentleman sitting next to you at this table ate a 
hearty dinner a day or two ago, went into that room (point- 
ing my finger) to play a game of billiards, and in fifteen 
minutes was a corpse — stricken with cholera." 

" yes, Colonel ; there are occasional instances now and 
then — a few spasmodic cases." 

"Well," says I, "I leave Calcutta. Good-by! farewell! 
adieu!" 

As I hurried down to the great steam-ship "Kaiser I. 
Hind," you might have heard a low voice mumbling, "Four 
hundred and fifty-six in twenty-fur hours!" 
24 



370 Around the World in I884. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Leaving Calcutta for Colombo, Ceylon — Meeting 
Sir John Sinclair — We Become Companions — The 
Marriage and Celebration of His Birthday in 
Scotland. 

THE sun was setting on New Orleans but rising on Cal- 
cutta as we drifted down the Hoogly River past the 
beautiful gardens of the exiled King of Oude. His palace 
is in full view, and his gardens are famed for their rare col- 
lection of flowers and display of animals. The old king 
lives in Oriental magnificence, with as many wives as he 
wants, on the pension allowed him by the Government, 
which is said to be two laks of rupees, or one hundred thou- 
sand dollars, a } r ear. The screaming kites — the scavengers 
of the city — and stately adjutant cranes, as tall as a man, 
were flying over or sitting in lofty reserve on the house- 
tops, while elephants and Hindoos were bathing in the river, 
and monkeys chattered in the trees along its banks, until 
Calcutta had faded from our view. We saw evidences of a 
great cyclone that swept up the coast a few years ago, de- 
stroying an immense deal of property and two hundred thou- 
sand lives. A large ship, or boat, was blown some distance 
out on shore. These storms move in an opposite direction 
from what they do with us, but probably the same causes 
produce them. They occur between the monsoons during 
the gradual change of these winds. Soon after leaving Cal- 
cutta the old fort, with its bristling cannons, appeared, where 
the East India Company, two hundred years ago, first es- 
tablished its power in India. Fifty miles below the city 
perhaps, we pass Diamond Harbor, connected with Calcutta 
by Avire and rail ; but soon all land disappears. 

Among our large passenger list was a handsome, digni- 
fied voung fellow of much culture and most agreeable man- 



Ceylon — Sir John Sinclair. 371 

ners. His distingue appearance attracted a good deal of 
comment on board when it was known a young nobleman, 
Sir John R. G. Sinclair, of Caithness, Scotland, eighth 
Baronet of Dunbeath, Bar rock House, was one among us. 
Sir John had been the guest of the Maharajah in Katia- 
wa for several months past. His illustrious father, who 
had served as a gallant soldier in the Indian army, was 
buried at Jeypore. His ancestry and clan were among the 
most honored and historic in Scotland. The "young Laird 
of Barrock" was on a voyage around the world. His com- 
panionship henceforth was to lend a new charm to the dreary 
waste of ocean and the jolly rounds of my pleasure on the 
shore. We became mutually good friends, like Horace 
and Maecenas, sharing each other's companionship and joys 
(we had no sorrows) in every land and on every sea, until 
cruel fate had parted us at the Palmer House in Chicago. 
It is a stupid thing to travel by one's self. 

Since leaving home two months and a half had gone 
with no kindred spirit to cheer me when alone. I had de- 
pended on my guides and the few Englishmen or Ameri- 
cans I had chanced to meet, for an interchange even of 
opinions. In future, then, the pronoun "we" will include 
my distinguished companion whom I have introduced. 

In this connection I trust I will be pardoned for alluding 
here to two of the happiest events that have occurred in 
the young life of my friend since his return from the event- 
ful voyage we had partly made together. From the John 
(J Groat Journal, published at Wick, Scotland, I am pleased 
to learn of his happy marriage to one of Edinburgh's most 
celebrated beauties. This brilliant event occurred January 
7, 1885, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh, the 
notice of which I have copied from that journal : 

Marriage. — At St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh, on the 
7th inst., by the Bishop of Edinburgh and tlie Rev. Canon Sellar, 



872 Around the World in I884. 

M.A., Sir John Rose George Sinclair, eighth Baronet of Dunbeath, 
Barrock House, Caithnesshire, to Edith, only daughter of Lieuten- 
ant-colonel Dunbar (H.P. 24th regiment), one of H.M.'s Gentlemen- 
at-arms, and granddaughter of the late Colonel Geddes, C.B., of 52, 
George Square, Edinburgh. 

The Earl of Caithness, as chief of the Sinclair clan, act- 
ed as best man. He was attired in full Highland costume, 
as were also the bridegroom and several of the guests. The 
niost lovely bride was attired in white brocade and satin 
trimmed with lace, and her ornaments consisted entirely of 
diamonds and pearls. The bridesmaids, who were eight in 
number, were each dressed alike in cream brocade trimmed 
with fur, and high-crowned hats of cream velvet with coral 
feathers. Each wore gold double horseshoe bangles and 
silver cairngorm staghorn brooches fastening a piece of 
gauze — the badge of the Sinclairs — and carried magnificent 
bouquets, all being the gifts of the bridegroom. The dec- 
orations of the church, the swelling peals from the organ, 
the presents, which were of the most costly description, con- 
stituted the event one of the most notable that had ever oc- 
curred in Edinburgh. 

On the 10th day of August succeeding, another memora- 
ble event was celebrated — hardly less happy in its associa- 
tions than the one to which I have alluded. On the day 
mentioned the young baronet reached his majority, which 
was celebrated at a dinner-party given to his tenantry. The 
occasion brought together the illustrious descendants and 
friends of "Barrock House" to welcome Sir John to his 
inheritance. The tenants of the estate, in testimony of 
their love and high appreciation of the " Laird and Lady 
of Barrock," made a presentation of a beautifully carved 
silver tray, Avhich was to have been pi-esented at their mar- 
riage. About two hundred of the tenants, with their wives 
and families, filed in the gate under a banner waving above 



Ceylon — Sir John Sinclair. 37 S 

thetn inscribed with the motto, "Welcome." The strains 
of the bagpipe, played by Mr. Sinclair Gair, was suggest- 
ive of a truly Highland welcome, without the hills. The 
invited guests belonged to the nobility and other distin- 
guished walks of life. I present a few of the toasts de- 
livered at this dinner, and regret that only distance pre- 
vented my acceptance of Sir John's invitation to be present 
on one of these happy occasions. 

Mr. James Laurie Howe commenced the proceedings. 
He said: "Sir John and Lady Sinclair, I may say that the 
greater part of our life-time here is brightened by hope and 
looking to the future. Our own youthful years are much 
taken up in this exercise, and I have no doubt but you, Sir 
John, also have been looking forward with pleasure to this 
time — namely, coming to your majority [cheers] ; and she 
who is the keystone of the whole arch is your beautiful and 
amiable wife, Lady Sinclair. [Loud cheers.] Our Scotch 
poet says the man without a wife is no better than an ass. 
[Laughter and applause.] Your tenants on Barrock es- 
tates resolved to share in your joys on this memorable day. 
[Cheers.] They know well that your interests as a land- 
lord and theirs are so closely connected that you may well 
be compared to one family [loud cheers] ; and we unitedly 
wished to give expression to our loyalty and good wishes to 
you, our young chief, and your accomplished lady on this 
occasion by presenting you with a piece of silver plate. 
[Cheers.] I now call upon Mr. Mowat to present this gift 
to you." 

Lady Sinclair, on viewing the handsome piece of plate, 
remarked : " It is just perfectly magnificent. Nothing could 
be more beautiful. It is so good of you." 

Sir John Sinclair then said: "In returning thanks for 
your address and your most beautiful tray, my wife and I 
wish to express how deeply we feel the affection and inter- 



374 Around the World in 1884. 



est which have prompted such a magnificent gift. I can 
assure you this is the second happiest day of my life. Of 
course the happiest was when I won my wife. [Loud ap- 
plause.] It gives me unbounded pleasure to know that the 
affection which existed for my grandfather still exists for 
me; and I enter on my new duties with confidence that I 
shall always have your support. [Applause.] The tray is 
one of the handsomest pieces I have ever seen. During my 
life it will be a constant object of pride to me, and will go 
down as an heir- loom, proving your generosity and good- 
will." [Loud applause.] 

After presentation of the plate the dinner was announced, 
with Sir John Sinclair as chairman. Prayer was delivered 
by the Eev. Mr. Macpherson. 

The Chairman (Sir Jchn Sinclair) proceeded to give the 
usual loyal and patriotic toasts, which were duly honored. 
The Queen, of course, came first ; Sir John remarking that 
Her Majesty showed her love for her Scotch subjects by 
living so much amongst them. In giving the toast of the 
Prince and Princess of Wales, and the rest of the royal 
family, special reference was made to the Princess Beatrice, 
for whom much happiness was wished in her married state. 

The Chairman : " The next toast I have to propose is ' the 
Army and Navy and Auxiliary Forces,' coupled with the 
name of General Burroughs. [Cheers.] There is no toast 
i;hat should be received bettei', as we are all proud of the 
army, especially after their recent gallant camj)aign, which 
will always form a chapter in the glorious annals of their 
exploits. [Cheers.] Through hardships, dangers, a bad 
climate, against a fanatical foe, they went on true to their 
motto, that a Briton never fails in his duty. [Loud cheers.] 
The navy too, for though the ships are changed from wood 
to iron, the material of the men is the same, and the Brit- 
ish tar is the glory of our island home. [Cheers.] The 



Ceylon — Sir John Sinclair. 375 

auxiliary forces we must all be proud of, for they are the 
movement of the nation coming forward to protect what 
they hold dearest — their homes and their liberty. [Cheers.] 
I cannot couple a more suitable person with this toast than 
my relation, General Burroughs, who has earned distinc- 
tion in many a hard-fought field, and for mest signal gal- 
lantry was -recommended for the Victoria Cross." [Loud 
cheers.] 

General Burroughs, in reply, said: "Sir John Sinclair, 
ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the British armaments 
— the Navy, the Army, and the Reserve Forces — I thank 
you for the cordial manner of your response to the toast 
in their honor. The county of Caithness has ever contrib- 
uted largely to these forces, and Caithnesstnen have con- 
tributed greatly to the victories they have gained. [Cheers.] 
In my own experience in a service of twenty-five years in 
the ninety-third regiment, the Sutherland Highlanders — a 
regiment in which, in my day, there were always a great 
many Caithnessmen — I can certify to the men of Caithness 
being second to none as good soldiers of our Queen. 
[Cheers.] I ever found them calm and cool and courage- 
ous in battle and in danger, and ever cheerful and willing 
and stanch and well-conducted in doing their duty at all 
times. [Renewed cheering.] When I think of my old 
friends and comrades-in-arms who belonged to Caithness, 
memory recalls to my mind the name of your neighbor, 
Colonel Wm. Macdonald, of Sandside [cheers], who was 
killed by cholera whilst in command of the ninety-third 
Highlanders at Peshawur, in India. I think of three Caith- 
nessmen who rose to be sergeant-majors of the regiment — 
viz., Sergeant-major Ross, Sergeant-major Manson, and Ser- 
geat-major Taylor. [Cheers.] The last was killed in bat- 
tle at Lucknow; and I think of many others who shared 
the same fate. I am happy, however, to know that many 



376 Around the World in 1884. 

of my old comrades-in-arms are still alive and well, and 
living honored and respected in your midst. There is my 
old friend Color-sergeant Ross at Reay, who taught me my 
drill as an Ensign ; there is Color-sergeant Sorrie at Thurso, 
Sergeant Coull at Wick, and many others scattered through 
this county. [Cheers.] But when I look upon the stal- 
wart chiels around me [laughter and applause], Tsee worthy 
successors of those that have gone before them ; and I for 
one would be sorry to be the enemy opposed to Sir John 
Sinclair, backed by the sons of those who followed his an- 
cestors of old [cheers], and who have come here this day 
loyally to welcome their young landlord on succeeding to 
the estates which have been held by his family since the 
history of Caithness was first written. [Applause.] I sin- 
cerely unite with you all in wishing Sir John and Lady 
Sinclair a long and useful life amongst you, and to you all 
happiness and prosperity." [Loud cheers.] 

General Burroughs again rose, and in appropriate terms 
proposed "the Church of Scotland in all its denomina- 
tions," coupled with the Rev. Mr. Macpherson. [Cheers.] 
Some of them, the General said, were traveling by differ- 
ent roads, but he hoped all were going to the same goa 1 . 
[Cheers.] 

The Rev. Mr. Macpherson indorsed this sentiment in his 
reply. He added that he was sorry that so much sectarian 
feeling existed, and he hoped in the future they would go 
hand in hand, helping each other in every good work. 
[Cheers.] For his own part he made it a principle to do 
good to every person he came in contact with, whatever 
Church he belonged to. [Cheers.] 

Bailie Sinclair, Wick, said he had been asked to propose 
a toast which he was sure all present would receive with 
enthusiasm. It was the health of Sir John and Lady Sin- 
clair. [Loud cheers.] Caithness, he said, had cause to be 



Ceylon — Sir John Sinclair, 



proud of its proprietors, and the proprietors had also rea- 
son to be proud of their tenants; and he was sure a more 
happy family of proprietors and tenants than that which 
bad met together there that afternoon was not to be found 
in Scotland. [Cheers.] There was no name in Scotland 
which stood out so prominently as that of Sinclair. [Laugh- 
ter and applause.] From earliest history they found that 
honors were conferred by the Crown on distinguished men 
of that name, and honors were conferred upon them still. 
From earliest history, also, members of the Sinclair family 
were foremost in defending their country ; and only the oth- 
er day we had a noble example of one of them forsaking 
the comforts of home, gallantly following Lord Wolseley 
in the Soudan [cheers], and taking part in all the perils of 
that memorable campaign on the Nile. He need not say 
that he referred to Mr. Clarence Sinclair of Ulbster. [Loud 
cheers.] And the Sinclairs had not won laurels on the bat- 
tle-field only, but they had such examples as those of Sir 
William Sinclair, of Dunbeath, and members of the Ulb- 
ster family, who had labored to instill into men's minds the 
principles of the glorious gospel — guiding them not only in 
the paths of morality, but showing them the way to reach 
the higher life. [Applause.] Bailie Sinclair proceeded to 
refer to the eminence attained in the arts and sciences, and 
as promoters of agriculture, by such men as the late Earl 
of Caithness, Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, the late Sir 
John Sinclair of Dunbeath, the late Mr. Traill, the late 
Sir George Dunbar, and last, though not least, the present 
enterprising Laird of Stemster. [Applause.] People might 
wonder what brought him (Bailie Sinclair) amongst them 
that day, but he was happy to say that he too was a tenant 
on the Barrock estate, and he was there to rejoice with the 
other tenants in the attainment by Sir John of his majority, 
and to show the respect which they had for the Baronet 



378 Around the World in 1884. 

and his amiable lady. [Applause.] Let them aid him in 
his struggles, rejoice with him in his successes, and with one 
voice say, " May God bless them both ! " [Loud cheers.] 
If Sir John followed in the footsteps of his forefathers, as 
he gave every promise of doing, he would be an eminent 
man in the county, and encourage his tenants in the way 
of progress. [Cheers.] The late Sir John Sinclair had 
done valuable work in improving his estate, and the work 
in which he was engaged was well carried on by those in 
whose hands the management of affairs was left. [Cheers.] 
Bailie Sinclair concluded by giving the health of Sir John 
and Lady Sinclair, and wishing for them every blessing. 
The toast was drank to amid vociferous cheering. 

Sir John Sinclair, in returning thanks, said: "In rising 
to return thanks for the hearty manner in which you have 
drank my health and that of my wife, I must first say how 
pleased I am to see you all present, and how much I value 
the warm expression of your feelings toward me. [Cheers.] 
1 must again reiterate that this is one of the happiest days 
in my life, and I only trust that these feelings may never 
cease to exist. [Renewed cheering.] I have followed my 
grandfather's steps, and married and settled here early in 
life [cheers]; and his interests will be mine. Cooperation, 
to my mind, solves every problem ; and if it is to be a long 
pull, at least let it be a pull all together [cheers], and then 
I have no fear for our mutual happiness and welfare." 
[Loud applause.] 

Sir John Sinclair, in replying for his mother, said that 
she held the opinion that every British woman, as well as 
every British man, should do her duty. [Cheers.] His 
mother had always endeavored to do her duty, and he be- 
lieved she had succeeded. [Loud cheers.] 

Mr. Henderson, of Stemster, proposed the health of Sir 
Tollemache Sinclair, member of Parliament of the county. 



Ceylon — Sir John Sinclair. 379 



[Cheers.] Sir Tollemache had represented the county for 
many years, and he had been most painstaking and faithful 
in the discharge of his duties. They would all agree with 
him that no man could be more attentive to the interests of 
the county than Sir Tollemache always showed himself to 
1)2. [Cheers.] 

Mr. Clarence Sinclair, on rising to reply, was received 
with applause. He said: "Sir John Sinclair, ladies and 
gentlemen, on behalf of my father I beg to thank you most 
cordially for the kind manner in which his healih has been 
proposed by Mr. Henderson, and for the hearty way in 
which you have received the toast. I am sure he sincerely 
regrets his inability to be present on this festive occasion, 
and to offer personally his congratulations to your most de- 
servedly popular young Laird on his attaining his majority, 
but ill health has compelled him to go abroad to a more 
genial climate to recruit his health after the arduous labors 
of the Parliamentary session. For, gentlemen, I can as- 
sure you that the position of a conscientious member of 
Parliament nowadays is by no means a sinecure, and the 
late hours and worries and anxieties tell severely on any- 
body, more especially on an elderly gentleman when he has 
reached the shady side of sixty, and may fairly claim a 
well-earned repose. [Applause.] My father has therefore 
definitely though regretfully determined to retire from the 
representation of the county after seventeen years of faith- 
ful service, during which time he has endeavored to main- 
tain and uphold your interests to the best of his ability, and 
to faithfully fulfill the trust committed to his care. [Cheers.] 
And though he has on all occasions voted according to the 
dictates of his conscience and irrespective of party, it will 
at the same time be found on analyzing the votes he has 
given in Parliament that whenever a measure has been pro- 
posed having for its object the elevation and improvement 



380 Around the World in 188 J h 



of the masses of the people, whether by education or other- 
wise, that measure has always had his cordial cooperation 
and hearty support. [Loud cheers.] I am sure the people 
of this county have shown their appreciation of his char- 
acter in the most emphatic and welcome manner in thrice 
electing him to represent them. [Cheers.] And I must 
not forget to thank most gratefully the electors of Barrock 
for the timely support they gave him on one momentous 
occasion — I mean the election of 1874 — when, had it not 
been that Barrock and Ulbster stood shoulder to shoulder, 
as I trust they will always do, I firmly believe the day 
would have been lost, and we should have had the mortifi- 
cation of being represented, or rather misrepresented, in the 
councils of the nation by an unknown stranger from the 
South, having no interests in common with ourselves, and 
no stake in the county. [Hear, hear, and applause.] I 
hope the day is far distant when we shall have to go a beg- 
ging to Glasgow or to London [hear, hear] in search of 
somebody to represent us in Parliament, and that the inter- 
ests of this important and enlightened constituency will 
never be intrusted to anybody but a Caithnessman." [Loud 
cheers.] 

The Bev. Mr. Macpherson, in proposing the next toast, 
said Sir John married early, but his sister got married be- 
fore him. [Laughter and cheers.] They were all delight- 
ed when they saw the announcement of her forth-coming 
marriage, and they were still more delighted when they 
heard who the happy husband was to be. [Cheers.] He 
begged to propose "the health of Mr. and Mrs. George Sin- 
clair" [cheers], and he might add that he was glad to think 
that there was no fear of the Sinclair clan dying out in the 
county. [Laughter and cheers.] The toast was heartily 
responded to. 

Mr. George Sinclair replied, and said the two happiest 



Ceylon — Sir John Sinclair. 881 

days of his life were intimately connected with Barrock. 
The first was when, soon after their marriage, his wife was 
presented with the magnificent bowl, which was the gift of 
the Barrock tenantry; and the second time was that day, 
when he and his wife had again received a most cordial 
welcome. [Cheers.] 

The Chairman said: "My next toast is one that I know 
will be warmly received. It is my guardian, Colonel Lear- 
month. [Cheers.] You all know the debt of gratitude 1 
awe him. He has stood to me in the place of a father, and 
I have ever found him the kindest and most indulgent; and 
his knowledge of the world has been of the greatest help 
to me. [Cheers.] The moment he heard of our meeting 
he put every thing on one side and took the long journey 
from Windsor to be once more amongst us. [Benewed 
cheering.] You have only to look round, and the property 
speaks for itself of the many improvements he has intro- 
duced and so wisely carried out." [Loud applause.] 

Coloi>el Learmonth said he was delighted to be present 
that day to see the worthy Laird of Barrock take his proper 
place in the bosom of his tenantry. [Applause.] He was 
proud to tell them that their Laird was a young man of the 
noblest spirit, and of the highest ideas of the duties which 
a landlord owes to his tenants. [Cheers.] At one time he 
thought of serving Her Majesty in the army, and so far he 
was doing so, as he belonged to the militia. But he con- 
sidered with himself and said: "Here am I about to suc- 
ceed to important duties in the management of an estate in 
the North, and I think it better that I should go and study 
agriculture for myself in order to get insight into that great 
profession." [Cheers.] And accordingly he did go and 
study agriculture for awhile, and then it occurred to him 
and those who advised him that it would be a good thing 
for him to go and see the world, and thus enlarge his ideas; 



382 Around the World in 188J,.. 

and consequently he took a tour round the globe, visiting 
India, China, Japan, and America. That was a wise and 
sensible course to chalk out—to trifle life away in follies 
and vanities, as many a young man might have done, but 
to prepare himself for the day which had now come. 
[Cheers.] Now that he (Colonel Learmonth) was going 
out of office he felt it to be a duty to talk about these mat- 
ters as 'he was doing. Furthermore, he thought Sir John 
took another wise step. He would only ask them to look 
at Lady Sinclair and say if that step was not a right and 
wise one. [Loud cheers.] The more people knew Lady 
Sinclair the more they liked her. She was ready and will- 
ing to aid and support her husband, and to do every thing 
in her power for the good of her people and the happiness 
of all on the estate. [Cheers.] Nothing could be more 
gratifying than the presentation which was made that day. 
The feeling of those who spoke was admirable, and it was 
evident that what was spoken came from the heart and ex- 
pressed the sentiments of the united tenantry. [Cheers.] 
Colonel Learmonth proceeded to say that in the manage- 
ment of the estate — and others were associated with him in 
the duty — during Sir John's minority, he had two things 
always in mind : first, that he had to spend other people's 
money and not his own, and that with due regard to Sir 
John's interests it was necessary that the improvements so 
wisely begun should be gone on with. Another and a great 
object was to try and keep together the tenantry on the es- 
tate, so that when this day which they were now enjoying 
arrived they should see a happy and contented people on 
the estate. [Cheers.] His (Colonel Learmonth's) reign 
was now over, and he was thankful that he was permitted 
to see this happy day in the life of Sir John and Lady Sin- 
clair, with regard to whom he was sure the feeling of every 
one was, " God bless them both ! " [Loud applause.] 



Ceylon — Sir John Sinclair. 883 

Mr. George Sinclair, Thurss Castle, proposed "the royal 
burgh of Wick." [Applause.] Wick, from its position 
and its harbor, was the great industrial center of the count)'-, 
whilst by the importance and extent of its trade it occupied 
the foremost position of any town north of Inverness. He 
was happy to think that during the present period of de- 
pression Wick was able to hold its own. He begged to 
couple with the toast the name of Provost Eae. [Cheers.] 
Provost Rae's name was one which they all knew and re- 
spected, and he was a man who had done more for the good 
of the county of Caithness than it was possible for him (Mr. 
Sinclair) to tell them. [Cheers.] The Provost was also a 
man of literary abilities which they all recognized, and he 
was a man also whom they most sincerely respected. [Loud 
cheers.] 

Mr. Clarence Sinclair, in an interesting speech, proposed 
"the press," coupled with Mr. Grant, of the Northern En- 
sign, who replied. 

Sir John Sinclair proposed, with three times three, the 
health of Mrs. Nicol, who had purveyed the dinner and 
done every thing herself in first-rate style. [Cheers.] 

Mr. Alex. Sinclair, corn merchant, Wick, proposed "the 
officials on the estate," coupled with Mr. A. Mackay, Thur- 
so. [Cheers.] 

Mr. Mackay replied, and referred to the pleasure which 
it afforded every one to see the kindly feelings manifested 
that day between proprietor and tenants. He had been 
connected with the estate for upward of twenty-four years, 
and during the earlier part of those years he had seen many 
striking instances of the deep interest taken by the late Sir 
John and Lady Sinclair in their tenantry. If every pro- 
prietor acted on the same principle and resided among his 
tenantry, it would be a blessing for the country. [Cheers.] 

This concluded the toast-list, and the company then dis- 



3S4 Around the World in I884. 

persed. The whole of the arrangements of the day were 
excellently carried out, and not a single hitch occurred to 
mar the enjoyment of the proceedings. The following was 
the committee of management: Messrs. James Laurie, 
William Mowat, James Oliphant, John Shearer, John Oli- 
phaiit, David Nicolson, John Miller, Alex. Mowat, and 
Francis Reid. 

After the presentation of the piece of plate to Sir John 
and Lady Sinclair, Mr. Johnston, "Wick, took a photograph 
in a group of the family party at Barrock House. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Incidents of the Voyage to Ceylon — Madras. 

WE are now fairly out on the Bay of Bengal. Our 
course is nearly due south, toward the equator, run- 
ning parallel with the peninsular coast of India. It is sev- 
en days to Ceylon, and we touch only at the city of Madras 
in the voyage from Calcutta to Colombo. Everybody is on 
deck, the weather is perfectly charming, with just a little 
"sea on," but not enough to prevent the crowded saloons 
at the regular bells, the merry dancers, or promenaders by 
moonlight. 

We have a bridal party on board, a hundred or more 
English passengers, bound for home on leave from the mil- 
itary and civil services of India. There are many passen- 
gers for Australia too, who have found the Indian climate 
too debilitating, and are seeking more congenial climes in 
the colonies across the equator. We have several " Church 
of England" ministers who conduct religious services on 
the Sabbath; so Ave are quite a well-organized community. 
I have never met a more genial or better cultured class of 
passengers than I find on the " Kaiser I. Hind." We- boast 



Voyage to Ceylon — Madras. 385 

of the usual dramatic and musical talent; a good library, 
supplemented by the ship's games, such as quoits, rings, and 
shuffle-boards, by which the time is passed away. 

In the gentlemen's smoking-room, or "stag hall," the 
rarest fun is sometimes enjoyed. The Englishman is fond 
of story-telling, as well as adventure, with a creditable fac- 
ulty for explanation. Speeches, toasts, and card-playing 
are ruling passions in these social reunions. The ladies are 
fond of needle-work, embroidery, reading, and the piano — 
we have a few fine base voices among the gentlemen. When 
tired of promenading on deck everybody has an easy bam- 
boo chair, in which they can lounge under the graceful 
awning from the heat of the sun, or at night under the 
starry dome of a radiant heaven. So you have an idea 
now how the dreary hours are chased away on shipboard. 

After four days steaming we anchor off the city of Madras, 
the worst landing probably for a large city in the world. 
The surf is rough, and breaks with fearful violence along 
the shore. There is no wharf or port, but we have an in- 
genious method of landing. Every emergency suggests a 
remedy, and I suppose the long, deep, broad skiff, or boat, 
we descend into by the ship's ladder answers every purpose. 
It is constructed of thin boards sewed together with very 
strong twine. There is not a nail in it. Upon cross-beams, 
or poles, sat about a dozen naked rowmen, and when we had 
made a bargain Ave started for shore. The straits between 
Dover and Calais is moonlight sailing compared to the 
mountain waves which we climbed and descended in this 
strange craft, called the massoola. The distance must have 
been a mile or more between the ship and shore. Just be- 
fore we landed our rowers waited for a big wave, which 
shot us on the beach. Then they folded their oars and 
jumped overboard, their shoulders reaching as high as the 
rim of the boat. I dropped myself calmlv in the arms of 
25 




(886) 



Voyage to Ceylon — Madras. 387 

two of these brawny fellows, who bore me safely to the dry 
land. I was struck with the flexibility and elasticity of 
the massoola. It is simply marvelous. No boat constructed 
with nails could ever stand the raging surf at Madras. But 
I found another little nondescript here that interested me 
even more than the massoola. It is a regular didapper. 
Nothing can sink it, and its name is catamaran. In fact, 
it is no boat at all ; it is simply four logs tied together. I 
would not call it a pleasure-boat, or even a business craft. 
It looks too uncertain for either. Let us call it a fishing- 
boat. I purchased a little model so as to study the genius 
of the builder. He must have been a living curiosity in 
his day. The outside logs are about six inches higher than 
the two central ones. The front looks a trifle more boatish. 
The rower sits down in the middle, holding the oar about 
half way, with which he rows first on one side and then on 
the other, much like the Georgia canoe is navigated in a 
mill-pond. I have seen the waves break entirely over the 
catamaran, with the boatman standing undismayed. At 
times it seemed to have disappeared altogether, and the 
rower presented the appearance of a man walking on the 
sea. 

The preceding descriptions of cholera in Calcutta and the 
voyage to Madras appeared in my newspaper correspond- 
ence of the Talbotton (Ga.) Neiv Era. 

Madras is one of the four capital cities, or presidencies, 
second only to Bombay in population, containing about 
seven hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. There are 
no very large cities in India, the population living mostly 
in villages. They speak a number of dialects, or languages, 
the people in one province often not being able to under- 
stand those in another, as in China. Forty million speak 
the Hindi, thirty million the Hindoostanee, ten million the 
Mahratti, twelve million the Tamil, fourteen million the 



388 Around the World in 1884. 

Telegu, and thirty million the Bengalee. The Tamil and 
Mahratti are languages of the south, Bengalee the language 
of the east, the Hindi of the central provinces, and the 
Hindoostanee the language of Lucknow and Delhi, and up- 
per Valley of the Ganges. 

We have been traveling by Madras time for some days. 
We find the city, like Washington, one of magnificent dis- 
tances. A fine English hotel fronts on the bay, and a drive 
in a gharry revealed many beautiful streets, public squares 
dotted with lakes, fine public buildings, English and native 
shops on a magnificent scale. Many of the finest houses 
are built of brick, two or three stories in height. From 
the number of lights signaled for our ship last night I 
should conclude Madras to be a city of much commercial 
importance. The province contains a population of thirty 
million, with railroad communication across the peninsula 
with Bombay. There is no particular historical association 
that makes Madras a place of much interest. She claims 
the honor, I believe, of sending the gallant Gen. Neill to 
the relief of Lucknow during the Sepoy rebellion, in which 
he lost his life. Fort St. George, too, played a conspicuous 
part in the history of the battle of Plassey, having dis- 
patched Gen. Clive, who Avon that famous battle almost 
without a fight, saving the city of Calcutta and deciding 
the fate of India in 1756. With three thousand men he 
defeated fifty-five thousand of the enemy. Some of the 
most fearful famines recorded in the history of India have 
occurred in remote parts of this province from drought 
that overwhelmed the land with death and mourning. In 
1833 it did not rain at all. The skies looked like brass, 
and the Government was unable to supply hardly one pound 
of rice per day to each inhabitant, so great was the suffer- 
ing. The average rain-fall is about fifty inches, which oc- 
curs during the crop or wet monsoon from June to October. 



Voyage to Ceylon — Madras. 389 

But Burmali and Siam, across the bay by ship, and Bengal 
by extended lines of railway, will relieve this distressing 
want in the future. 

I had enjoyed the pleasure of an acquaintance with Mr. 
Dique, the Commissioner to the Calcutta Exposition, just 
closed on board our ship, who kindly invited me while 
stopping in Madras to visit the museum under his charge. 
But the intense heat prevailing and want of time deprived 
me of this cherished desire. As the museum was some dis- 
tance out, I concluded to stop at the zoological gardens. 
Here I could study the rare collection of native birds and 
animals under their own sunny skies. The Bengal tiger 
and lion, with all their species of cats, catamounts, leopards, 
etc., looked even more ferocious and natural than in the 
average Georgia circus. Immense gray monkeys of a new 
species, with heavy mane and down, grinned at me in wooden 
cages, sometimes with a chain around their necks, walking 
or jumping at full length. I saw a very small species in a 
variety of colors, with parrots, paroquets, and many strange- 
looking birds I had never seen before. Among the animals 
in India the most curious are the tapir, the spotted deer, the 
hog deer, barking deer, and a species of seal with the legs and 
body of an animal perhaps strikes one as the most singular. 

There are fifty thousand Mohammedans here, four thou- 
sand Europeans, and the remainder of the population appear 
to be Hindoos and Eurasians. There are many temples of 
the Hindoos in the city, with a few mosques inter vening, 
whose towering and graceful minarets always indicate their 
location. One temple is deserving of special notice, being a 
very fine specimen of its peculiar style of architecture. It 
is built of stone, and approached by a massive gate-way sur- 
mounted by a tower elaborately carved with the most sym- 
metrical designs. A portico extending at right angles from 
the main building, in front, is protected by a roof twenty 



390 Around the World in 18SJf. 

feet high, resting on beautiful columns. The columns re- 
semble granite, and are carved in bold relief. Like the 
monkey temple I described at Benares, an immense tank 
three hundred feet square, filled with stagnant water, stands 
in front. The water is reached by descending a flight of 
stone steps in the same way. They bathe and wash in this 
pool, or tank, at the same time. The Hindoo washes his 
scanty garments while standing in the water. Around on 
the edges of another lake I saw the men and women dipping 
their clothes in the water, and raising them on high brought 
them down in the most vigorous manner on a solid rock. 
The buttons fleiv. I supposed this to be a public laundry. 
A curious sight was to see a woman washing one part of a 
loose garment she had on while she was endeavoring to con- 
ceal her person with the other part. 

A great clumsy car, on tall wooden wheels, was rolled 
aside on one of the streets I came down. It appeared to be 
at least fifteen feet in height, with a profusion of ornamental 
carving in iron and teak-wood, representing Hindoo idols. 
The wheels must have been six feet in diameter. This is 
the famous Juggernaut car, I suppose, that during the festi- 
vals in honor of this god, twice a year, is drawn through 
the streets by five or six hundred men, who pull it by long 
ropes. Here the Hindoos wear the chalk-marks too, to indi- 
cate their faith. I have seen broad bands, generally white, 
on their foreheads, on their nose, and sometimes a trident 
extending upward from its base in white and colored lines. 
During the festivals the Nautch girls (naughty girls) dance 
in front of the temples. Some of them are quite pretty. 
They dress in gorgeous silk robes, and resemble the mulatto 
girls of Georgia in complexion. As they dance they display 
their jewels, ringlets, bracelets, bangles, and rings with mar- 
velous effect. Even their toes and ankles are encircled 
with pearls. 



Voyage to Ceylon — Madras. 391 

In the missionary schools, which are largely patronized 
by the natives, a regular curriculum of studies in English 
is taught the boys, who mingle freely, regardless of caste. 
But the girls in their schools observe the inexorable dis- 
tinctions. There appear to be no mixed schools in India. 
The pariah or low caste girls sit, eat, and sleep on mats. 
There are probably thirty thousand native Christians in 
Madras. But when the wealthy classes are once reached 
through the hospitals and zenanas and instructed, the prog- 
ress of conversion will be rapid throughout India. The 
English Government is wise in the unrestrained liberty it 
gives to every shade of religious opinion and worship. She 
restores old palaces, mosques, and monuments to exalt the 
pride of the native ; donates millions of rupees to public ed- 
ucation, Church extension, and missionary work; winning 
the affections of the people over to the support of her Gov- 
ernment. It is only a question of time when caste, with its 
traditional prejudice, must yield to the superior civilization 
of Bible England, and millions of benighted India be 
brought to a knowledge of the saving power of Jesus. "We 
have found excellent English hotels in all the principal 
cities and towns of India, and where they are wanting the 
native bungalow approaches them in comfort. Ample 
veranda, ventilation, and bath-tubs are the distinguishing 
features of a good hotel in this tropical climate. Fruits 
and vegetables abound throughout the year, with poultry, 
game, steak, and mutton, eggs, and an abundant supply of 
fish and shrimp along the sea-coast. Curry is the universal 
dish served on every table. The rice is cooked dry and 
always eaten with curry or gravy and a small dried fish 
called Bombay duck. The chicken, beef, and sprawn are 
favorite curries among all foreigners. Nothing is more de- 
licious. The orange and banana are eaten throughout the 
year. The mango and biwa, or Japan plum, begin to ripen 



392 Around the World in 1884. 

in April and last two or three months. The Englishman 
carries his habits around the world with him. He enjoys 
his club-house, race-track, cricket-ground, lawn tennis, and 
yatching, even under the equator. 

The Hindoo has wonderful genius for juggling, puzzles, 
and cunning devices to amuse or interest you. The hotel 
was crowded with these fellows, who would sell you the 
most mystical block, string, or ring puzzles for half a rupee 
and then teach you how to work them. "When we reached 
our ship again we found the snake-charmer, with a little 
covered basket under his arm and his quaint flageolet, added 
to every conceivable attraction in the way of curios that 
could be offered. Our decks presented the appearance of a 
museum, a small opera, theater comique, zoological garden, 
bazaar, and circus. Here was a dark Adam with a half 
dozen monkeys at seventy-five cents each, another with par- 
oquets, a third with stuffed specimens, while a half dozen 
naked venders of stag and bullock horns highly polished 
vied with fiddlers drawing their little bows across cocoa-nut 
shells. Such a blowing, tooting, and screeching I had never 
heard. I concluded to take the whole cargo, but my rupees 
did not hold out. As we approached to make a critical ex- 
amination the Hindoo made a profound salaam and began 
to spread. We stood with wondering eyes. Here were 
fabrics of silk and cloth, interwoven with the finest threads 
of silver and gold — marvelous creations. Exquisite lam- 
brequins, table-covers, and curtains, wrought Avith stars, 
spangles, and flowers of the most delicate workmanship. 
No wonder Macaulay pictured such glowing descriptions 
of Benares and "its silks, which went forth from the 
looms of this city to adorn the halls of St. James and 
Versailles." 

In three days we sighted the Island of Ceylon, situated at 
the foot of India, like Key West is at the foot of Flori- 



Island and Capital of Ceylon. 393 

da. In an analogous comparison, Calcutta occupies the po- 
sition of Fernandina on the eastern shore of the peninsula. 
We passed in sight of Point de Galle, which was once a 
busy port before Colombo eclipsed it in commercial impor- 
tance. The French Imperial Messageries is the only line, 
I believe, now touching at this once famous city. All the 
other great lines — including the Peninsular and Oriental 
British India Anchor Line, Holt, Liverpool; Carleton & 
Moffat's sailing ships, New York, and others — stop at Co- 
lombo. The two cities are seventy-five miles apart. It 
was quite dark before we made the wharf and custom- 
house, through which we had no difficulty in passing to 
reach the Grand Oriental Hotel. Our ship lay off about 
two miles in the open roadstead. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Colombo — Its Charms — Arabi Pasha — Visit to Kan- 
dy — Sail for China by the "Hydaspes," of the 
Peninsular and Oriental Line.* 

SINCE our arrival here from India we have seen much 
of Ceylon, having thirteen days to await the arrival of 
the China steamer. 

Ceylon is a large island, lying in the Indian Ocean, south 
of India, seven degrees north of the equator. Its soil is 
rich and teems with tropical verdure. The climate being 
torrid conduces largely to plant-life — its rapid growth and 
luxuriance being marvelous. 

This city is the capital of the island, and has a popula- 
tion of one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants. Sir 
Arthur Gordon is the present English Governor, residing at 
the Pavilion here most of the year. I am greatly indebted 
to the executive office for letters of introduction to the sev- 

*This chapter appeared as a better in the Talbotton (Ga.) New Era. 



394 Around the World in I884. 

eral departments at Kandy. The Governor is absent at 
New-Relia, a mountain resort seven thousand feet high ; but 
the great financial crash the failure of the Oriental Bank 
has produced in the past two days will cause his hasty de- 
scent. Nearly every interest of the island seems identifiei 
in some way with this gigantic banking institution. We 
understand " too much planter's paper" is the trouble. Rico- 
planters, and tea-planters, cinchona and coffee estates, are 
all involved. Five years of bad seasons, failure of the 
coffee crops, decline in cinchona (quinine-bark), etc., are 
cited as probable causes. However, the Governor has ar- 
rived and confidence is being restored — the panic subsiding 
since the issue of the Governor's proclamation. The bank 
will go into liquidation, but arrangements have been made 
to keep their notes floating — about $15,000,000. 

One of the greatest swells of this beautiful city is Arabi 
Pasha, the exiled Egyptian General, whom the British Gov- 
ernment allows choice privileges of a quiet, pleasant even- 
ing. He may be seen from my window at the Grand Oriental 
Hotel, driving a nobby team, behind which may be observed 
brilliant flashes from dark eyes that speak eloquently against 
the solitude of Arabi's prison-life. 

The Oriental is a scene of continual gayety, many steam- 
ers arriving and departing to all parts of the world. Here 
the ships from Australia, India, China, and Europe touch 
for exchange of passengers and a fresh supply of coal. 

It is always spring here — no frost, no winter, and a change 
in temperature only occurs when the monsoons prevail. 
The winds blow hard at times, but it does not rain more 
than three to six months in the year. The most enormous 
rain-falls in the world occur, sometimes more than one 
hundred inches in a year having been recorded. The nat- 
ural phenomenon of thunder and lightning accompanies the 
showers, as in Georgia. 



Island and Capital of Ceylon. 395 

The cinnamon gardens and the Buddhist temple are 
among the attractions in Colombo. Nearly all the spices 
grow to perfection in Ceylon. Our excellent consul, Col. 
Morey — for many years resident in this country — has 
contributed largely to my pleasure and study of Ceylon. 
Through his kindness I have been presented with some fine 
specimens of cinnamon-bark, which, with other objects of 
interest, I hope to present to our agricultural department 
in Atlanta. 

This morning I spent a pleasant hour I cannot soon for- 
get with Mr. Ferguson, editor of the Daily Observer. This 
paper has been established in Colombo forty-seven years, 
and is the strong advocate of a sound political policy on 
the part of the Government and the champion of every in- 
terest that consults the advancement of this wonderful isl- 
and. I am glad to inform you newspapers pay Avell and 
are highly appreciated in this part of the world. I found 
in India, as well as in Ceylon, that no merchant or busi- 
ness man attempts to do business outside of the newspaper 
columns. It seems that every want is consulted, as well as 
every article for sale is advertised. 

As I have said, Ceylon is a large island, belonging to 
Great Britain. Away from the sea-coast rise lofty hills and 
mountains. Adam's Peak, where the blue sapphire and 
other precious stones are found, is visible in the distance. 
But in the interior the highest elevations are to be seen, 
covered with the densest tropical growth, vine and jungle. 
At their base in the jungle are to be found tigers, lions, ele- 
phants, etc. 

It was my object to study the picturesque scenes pre- 
sented in a ramble around the charming town of Kandy 
that induced a change from the equatorial heat of Colombo 
to an elevation nearly two thousand feet above that beauti- 
ful metropolis. I have not regretted my visit since I have 



396 Around the World in 188J h 

found the temperature reduced from ninety to seventy de- 
grees and the nights cool and delicious. In front of the 
Queen's Hotel is a charming lake one mile and a half in cir- 
cumference, with a drive more charming. Above this lake 
rise lofty mountains, from whose summits an enraptured 
view of its crystal waters and the magnificent cit}' below 
can be enjoyed. On the side of these mountains may be 
seen coffee, cocoa, and cinnamon growing, while at their base 
the cocoa-nut palm, banana, and mango flourish in wildest 
profusion. The railroad from Colombo to Kandy is a won- 
derful piece of engineering. The distance is seventy-four 
and one-half miles, and it rises one thousand seven hundred 
feet in forty or fifty miles of this distance. There is an en- 
gine behind and one in front, but the speed is very slow. 
At Sensation Rock, where there is a tunnel, I looked down 
a thousand feet, as we seemed crawling around on the side 
of a lofty mountain, every foot of which had been blasted 
out of the granite rock for a road-bed. The paddy (rice) 
fields with terraced borders glistened below, while nature 
in its wildest forms struggled for ascendency on the rugged 
sides of the opposite mountains. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Observations in and About Colombo. 

FROM the hotel veranda we enjoy a magnificent view of 
the beautiful harbor, crowded with ships of every nation. 
The native craft, with their peculiar rig and lanteen sails 
lazily flapping before a gentle breeze, lend a picturesque 
charm to the scene. As there are no wharves, the ships 
must anchor off in the breakwater — an expensive work be- 
gun by the Government fourteen years ago, consisting of a 
sea-wall; when completed it promises to furnish Colombo 
with a safe anchorage. Its estimated cost is $3,000,000. 



Island and Capital of Ceylon. 397 

Our hotel is conducted by English proprietors, and is 
built on the grandest scale imaginable. It is owned by a 
stock company. Its elegant parlors, halls, verandas, and 
beautiful court, on the arrival of the steamers, are thronged 
with the best class of European travel, the aristocracy and 
titled gentry of England. Many English and Scotch are 
engaged in planting on the island, or are employed here in 
various lines of business, whose occasional presence about 
the Grand Oriental renders its social features highly agree- 
able. The bulletin-boards are watched with intense eager- 
ness, showing the arrivals and departures of various steam- 
ers, which occur almost daily. The gayety of the scene 
presented in consequence would remind you of a watering- 
place. Here are people meeting each other from the anti- 
podes — from America, Australia, Europe, Japan, and China. 
Sir John and I have our rooms close together, with capital 
baths and service. Almost at every door stands a Singha- 
lese man to wait on you. We have found the table all we 
could desire, the curry and mangoes being especially fine. 
There is a greater variety of fruit here than we saw even in 
India. It is ripening every month in the year. A sweet 
orange with a green skin is one of the novelties. We have 
pine-apples and bananas, of most delicious flavor. Vegeta- 
bles are in great variety. Our beef and mutton are native 
or come from India, and their quality is not so good as in 
Europe or America. Poultry, eggs, and fish are very abun- 
dant; shrimps plentiful; but oysters are not eaten in these 
low latitudes, I believe. With all the luxuries we enjoy at 
the Oriental, I am only paying one dollar and sixty cents 
per day. Even baths, service, and lights are included, with 
coffee and tea before breakfast in our rooms. Early in the 
morning we started out sight-seeing. We had seen some 
remarkable sights before starting. A - Hindoo merchant 
from Calcutta is displaying a gorgeous spread under the 



398 Around the World in 1884. 

arcade of the hotel, consisting of India shawls, jewels, silver 
and gold bangles. In front of us has walked up a Hindoo 
juggler with a covered basket under his naked arm. He 
sets it on the ground, raises the cloth, begins to blow in the 
cobra's ear with his flageolet. The venomous serpent, rais- 
ing his head high above the basket, spreads it several inches 
wide, displaying his black tongue and white spots on his 
body. He takes the huge snake out of the basket, folding it 
around his neck and body, and begins to grow a mango-tree 
from a seed. For one time my fortunate position overhead 
in the hanging-gallery would enable me to detect the vag- 
abond if he attempted a fraud on his audience. Assum- 
ing the usual squat, he placed a single mango-seed on the 
hard pavement, covered it with a handful of soil, sprinkled 
it over with water, blew his flageolet again, sprinkled once 
more, and in a few minutes, to our utter astonishment, I saw 
a small plant bursting out of the hill of dirt. In five minutes 
the mango-seed grew into a little tree. The entire audience 
of English people burst into a tremendous applause. The 
Hindoo, passing around his hat, retired wealthy. 

Little drummers, with their tortoise-shell combs, dia- 
monds, sapphires, and eat's-eyes, had nearly overwhelmed 
us on our arrival. We had been requested by a man of 
fine port, wearing immense goggles, to buy a cat's-eye worth 
ten thousand dollars, he said. Shortly afterward I learned 
that a peck of these stones had been discovered in a pile on 
Adam's Peak, and I was glad we did not buy that cat's-eye. 
At every turn you see something to amuse you. The first 
mistake I made was to suppose a Singhalese man to be a 
woman. He was walking away from me at the time, with 
an old-fashioned tuck-comb stuck in the top of his head, 
from which fell in graceful profusion a wealth of disheveled 
black hair down to his waist. I was about to go into rapt- 
ures over this cornel v maiden when I was informed she was 



Island and Capital of Ceylon. 399 

a man. The men and women seem to dress pretty much 
alike — those who dress at all — with the exception I have 
mentioned. The women comb their hair back, tie it up in 
a little knot, like the Georgia girl, and go along. I must 
insist the men have actually stolen their tuck-combs from 
them, which you can see them wearing anywhere in Co- 
lombo, for nearly all the natives go bareheaded and bare- 
foot. Many wear the turban. The chetty merchant's, under 
the grand arcade of the Oriental, sometimes wear a curiously 
shaped cap that resembles a stove-pipe cut off six inches 
long. These people are yellow or dark in complexion, pos- 
sessing warm, brown skins and good figures. The men are 
very much attached to their wives, whom they keep pretty 
close at home. If divorces ever occur, they are very rare 
among these people. I heard of none among the Hindoos 
in India; but among the Mohammedans, in some countries, 
it is very easy to get a divorce. They have many wives, 
like the Mormons. They must go before the priest with 
some pretext before the thing can be done. Sometimes a 
man may divorce all five of his wives and concubines at 
one time in Persia, and " begin over again." Another law 
in that country permits a man and woman to marry on trial, 
six months or fifty years. The time is always settled on 
before the priest. 

The women generally seen on the streets here wear a loose 
jacket, with a sort of skirt gathered about their hips; but 
in the country they wear little or no clothing at all. A so- 
ciety belle in Colombo, I presume, would be expected to 
spend very little time on her wardrobe, for her shapely arms 
must glitter with bangles and her ankles and toes with 
pearls. Her ears, nose, and even elbows, are adorned with 
rings. The poor laboring women, in their endeavor to rival 
the more fortunate of their sex, pierce the rim of their ears 
in a dozen places, and wear a ring in each hole; and some- 



400 



Around the World in I8S4. 




MOTHERS IN FULL COSTUME. 



times I have seen large rings hanging from the cartilage of 
their noses. It is amusing to see the babies dressed in or- 
naments, with not a bit of clothing on. That would be 
considered extravagance. The jewelry is often of solid 
gold and silver, with pearls, while brass is worn among 
the poor. The street gamins of Colombo are a beggarly 
set. I believe ten cents a year would clothe the most reck- 
less of them. Alas, alas! with all this economy, Ferguson's 
Hand-book reports a falling off in the importation of fig- 
ured cotton goods into Ceylon. 

The Singhalese are the aborigines of Ceylon. As mer- 



Island and Capital of Ceylon. 401 

chants they are educated, well-dressed gentlemen, polite, 
and speak good English. The Singhalese type and char- 
acter are nearly allied to those of the Bangalese; and in 
language, religion, and traditions they generally approach 
closely to the Indo-Chinese nations, and especially the 
Burmese. The religion of the Singhalese is Buddhism, but 
the upper classes profess Christianity, and many have been 
converted to Islamism. 

The Moormen, who constitute a large class of Colom- 
bo's population, are said to be very shrewd in banking and 
trade. I have often met these people about the Grand 
Oriental Hotel with bags of silver rupees to exchange 
for English sovereigns. They are the money-changers "»f 
the island. In religion the Moormen are nearly all Mo- 
hammedan. 

The Tamils, who number quite one-third of the entire 
population, mostly inhabit the coffee districts, or northern 
portion of the island. They emigrated over here from In- 
dia. Tamil women are easily distinguished by a scarf — 
usually of flaming colors — which they pass over one shoul- 
der and fasten around the waist. 

Col. Ferguson, of the Observer, has placed me under ob- 
ligations for a copy of his invaluable Hand-book to Ceylon 
for 1883 and 1884. From it I learn the island embraces 
about fifteen million acres of surface, much of which is a 
rich, deep chocolate soil of great fertility. The entire pop- 
ulation approximates three million inhabitants. No island 
in the world surpasses it for picturesqueness. Its physical 
aspect presents interminable jungles of vine and densest fo- 
liage, with beautiful valleys in the interior and mountains 
that rise five to seven thousand feet in elevation. It is 
seven hundred and fifty miles in circumference. In some 
of the districts the population will average four hundred to 
five hundred inhabitants to the square mile. Near Adam's 
26 



402 



Around the World in 188Jf. 



Peak one hundred and forty to one hundred and fifty inches 
of rain-fall is the average per annum. In one district it 
rains two hundred and thirty -seven days in a year. This 




SCENE IN CEYLON, NEAR COLOMBO. 

excessive rain-fall tempers the heat of the climate, producing 
a mean temperature of sixty-eight degrees. April and May 
are the hot months. As we ascend higher altitudes the cli- 
mate is perfection. People live to be eighty and one hun- 
dred years old. Nearly every day in the year there is sun- 
shine. The weather reminds me of April in Georgia, ex- 
cept the heat is much more intense. There is the same 
kind of thunder and lightning here as on the other side of 



Island and Capital of Ceylon. 403 

the globe. It did seem so familiar to me. As there is not 
even frost at four thousand feet elevation, we may enjoy 
perpetual spring the year round. The birds sing the live- 
long day, and the flowers are always blooming, while fruits 
and vegetables appear in succession throughout the year. 
Near the coast forests of cocoa-nut palms wave their feath- 
ery plumage. Between the coast and mountain ranges He 
rich alluvial plains, cultivated in rice. As we ascend high- 
er temperatures coffee, tea, cocoa, and cinchona appeal-. 
The collection of fruits, indigenous and cultivated, is sim- 
ply marvelous. At a horticultural fair held in this city 
last year, in July, were exhibited many English as well as 
native fruits. Among the number were mangoes, plantains, 
oranges, peaches, prunellos, custard-apples, pine-apples, mel- 
ons, grapes, figs, limes, guavas, sour sops, bullock hearts, 
mangosteens, rambutans, loquats, plums, lavi-lovies, papaws, 
and dorians. 

It is estimated that an acre of plantains here will yield 
as much nutritious food as sixty acres of wheat in India. 
With the jack fruit it furnishes the cheapest bread in the 
world. Here the natives can almost live without labor, 
fruit is so abundant. Dilke calls it the "devil's agent," it 
creates so much idleness. A pretty good fortune for any 
native who is ambitious to become wealthy is a dozen cocoa- 
nut-trees and two jacks. He may be considered a bloated 
aristocrat with all this property. A cocoa-nut-tree will 
yield from seventy-five to one hundred or more nuts. These 
are worth from two to two and a half cents each, so the in- 
come from twelve trees would be twenty-five to thirty dol- 
lars per annum. I was surprised at the prodigious size the 
jack attains. A single fruit has been known to weigh fifty 
pounds. A tree about the size of a large apple-tree will 
bear from one to two hundred. When cut open and sliced 
up the flavor is very agreeable, resembling in tex ure the 



404 Around the World in 1884. 

pine-apple, though not so delicious. The natives are very 
fond of it. At Nuwara Eliya, six thousand two hundred 
and thirty-four feet above the sea, an English woman, Mrs. 
Hay, supported herself and children from the proceeds of 
her garden. In the month of January she sent to market 
green pease, brussel sprouts, strawberries, knohl-kohls, tur- 
nips, carrots, leeks, cauliflowers, cabbages, sago, thyme, and 
parsley. 

Any number of plants yielding oil-seed and cake might 
be grown in Ceylon. Some of the most beautiful woods are 
found here. The jack-tree is valuable not only for its pal- 
atable fruit, but when sawed into boards resembles mahog- 
any. The famous calamander, though growing very scarce, 
is the finest of the fancy woods. When polished it pre- 
sents an admixture of colors of chocolate, fawn, and cream 
that blend into each other. The tamarind, ebony, flowered 
satin-wood, iron-wood, nedum del cocoa-nut, sapan-wood, 
are either cultivated or indigenous in Ceylon. The sapan 
is largely exported for its dye ; palmyra and ebony for works 
of art or furniture. Nearlv all these valuable timbers are 
grown from seeds, which 'are first planted in beds and trans- 
planted. They are often dropped in places for permanent 
growth. The list is too comprehensive to enumerate in a 
work of this kind. But I trust I shall be pardoned if I 
have appeared somewhat tedious in my descriptions of the 
wonderful fauna and flora of Ceylon, as I have felt a deep 
interest in the study of its plant-life, its beautiful forms and 
organism. 

I have spent some days now in this charming city. 
Its gardens and lakes are attractive, and its drives down 
the sea-shore just lovely. The Gall Face Hotel, two miles 
distant, looks out from a cocoa-nut grove on the rolling 
surf of the sea. Mount Lavinia is six miles down the 
coast, a most picturesque place to visit, with another good 



Kandy — Tea and Cocoa Culture. 405 

English hotel for comfort. I have already mentioned the 
cinnamon-gardens and Pagoda in Colombo. Cinnamon 
appears to be indigenous here. The bark is taken off the 
trees, carried through a heating or curing process, then 
graded for market. Except the manufactures of the na- 
tives already mentioned, cocoa is made into chocolate and 
cocoa-nuts into oil by steam-mills operated by English cap- 
italists. Ceylon was first settled by the Portuguese several 
hundred years ago. The Dutch whipped out the Portu- 
guese, and the English whipped out the Dutch in 1796. 
This pleasant old story of England's conquest goes the world 
around. But I rejoice in English dominion and the power 
of her arms. She is planting the Bible and her Christian 
civilization upon every shore, sea, and land. The English 
language girdles the world. I love my own country, but I 
am proud of my ancestry. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Kandy — Tea and Cocoa Culture. 

THE Government owns the six lines of railway in Cey- 
lon, aggregating in total length one hundred and thirty- 
nine and one-fourth miles. The longest road is from Co- 
lombo to this city (Kandy), seventy-four and a half miles. 
The shortest is a wharf branch in Colombo, being just one 
mile. The gauge is five feet six inches, the most costly be- 
ing the line to Kandy, in consequence of tunnels through 
the mountains. This road cost two hundred and thirty- 
three thousand three hundred and fifty-three rupees, or one 
hundred and sixteen thousand six hundred and seventy-six 
dollars, per mile. 

Kandy, the former capital of the old kings of Kandy, 
boasts of twenty-two thousand inhabitants. It is a beauti- 



406 Around the World in 1884- 

ful city, embosomed in the very depths of the mountains. 
I enjoyed a drive around the lake, the first morning after 
arrival, in a four-wheel bandy, under clusters of bamboo 
and mango-trees that adorned its margin. The shape of 
the lake is somewhat irregular, being inclosed by an arti- 
ficial wall on two sides, with mountains rising about it on 
the others. There are terraced walks and drives up to their 
very summits. I found several bath and boat houses around 
its shores, and the English playing cricket. The old boat- 
house of the last king projects over the lake on this charm- 
ing drive. 

Enjoying an excellent breakfast, with a cup of good Cey- 
lon coffee, I suppose, I started with my guide for the old 
Buddhist temple, which probably is the most famous in the 
world. It enjoys the celebrity of possessing one of Bud- 
dha's teeth, with other souvenirs. It is situated at the foot 
of the mountain, a few hundred yards distant from the 
Queen's Hotel. Close by is the old palace, in which the 
kings once lived. We found a festival going on. An im- 
mense crowd of pilgrims and devotees were pressing into 
this old stone building toward the sacred emblems and 
shrines, before which they were bowing and making offer- 
ings of flowers. The yellow-robed priests, with clean-shaved 
faces and heads, were conspicuous for consequential airs and 
dignity on this occasion. There was a flower-market on the 
first floor, where every pilgrim was purchasing an offering. 
We pressed through the surging mass of heathens up a nar- 
row flight of stone steps to the second story of the temple. 
Here the flowers were being offered before the different im- 
ages and divinities — one a large statue of glass — to appease 
their wrath, or in propitiation of some sin. In one corner 
of the room was a golden casket, containing Buddha's tooth. 
Imagine my consternation when the guide said: "Though 
Buddha's tooth is in there, it is too sacred to be seen." How 



Kandy — Tea and Cocoa Culture. 401 



can a man bear every thing? Here I had traveled twelve 
thousand miles, and couldn't even see his tooth. His foot- 
print was on Adam's Peak, so I heard; but I did not care to 
see that. We departed. My guide translated some inscrip- 
tions, illustrated on the front wall of the old temple, that 
answered to the Ten Commandments of our Lord. One 
figure represented a man in torment for some sin, another 
being punished for stealing from his neighbor, and a third 
cartoon illustrated the rape of the Sabines — so I imagined 
— and the punishment thereof. "Thou shalt not kill" was 
distinctly recognized. There were ten in all. Some old 
Bibles of the prophet were stored away out of sight, writ- 
ten on palm-leaves ; and any number of new ones for sale 
in the Tamil and Singhalese languages. I bought a small 
edition for honorary membership in my library. 

I returned to the Queen's Hotel to enjoy the beauty of 
the lake, mountains, and vale, that make up a diadem of a 
picture in which Kandy is set like a gem. The mountains 
rise 'above the town to a fearful height. Their sloping sides 
are terraced one above the other with pretty walks, bunga- 
lows, and drives, planted in coffee, tea, and cinchona trees. 
Many of the English reside on these lofty terraces, their 
pretty homes looking down through the jungle of vine and 
bamboo upon the beautiful lake that glistens like a mirror 
hundreds of feet below them. 

It being Sunday morning, I decided to attend the Episco- 
pal church. There was a good congregation, mostly Eura- 
sians, made up of families, sandwiched with a few of the 
belles and beaux of the city, all dressed in European cos- 
tumes. I noticed many pretty faces among these brown 
and mulatto girls, whose dress and behavior were faultlessly 
beautiful. They engaged with the English part of the con- 
gregation in the service. They are among the wealthy peo- 
ple of Ceylon, being educated in English. The Portuguese 



408 Around the World in I884. 



seem to have left a more enduring monument of their occu- 
pation of the island in their intermarriage with the na- 
tives than they did in their religion. After the services 
were closed I saw a few of the people walk, but many drove 
away in their bandies and dog-carts, drawn by little ponies, 
to their picturesque homes. Somebody at the hotel asked 
if I had heard the sermon. O yes, I replied ; that discourse 
seemed quite familiar to me. I heard it on the " Kaiser I. 
Hind," sailing on the sea. The beautiful character and il- 
lustrious example of the woman of Shunem were eloquent- 
ly delineated on this occasion. 

Early Monday morning I was joined by two English 
gentlemen — Judge J. C. Hughesdon, of Madras, India, and 
Mr. Sanders, of Kent, England — who had accepted my in- 
vitation to visit the Old Palace, the Pavilion, and Govern- 
ment Gardens, to which I had letters from the executive 
office at Colombo. The Old Palace stands in rear of the 
temple we described. Much of its royal splendor has long- 
since departed. I found a few pictures, some furniture,*and 
frescoes on the wall, in my rambles through the audience- 
chambers and the old dining-hall. 

The burial-ground of the Hindoos is on the opposite side 
of the street, where a few tablets and old shrines remain 
under the sacred bow-tree. On an eminence near by lie the 
old kings, with a bow-tree planted at each grave. Their 
monuments are in a condition of hopeless decay. 

Pursuing our walk to the city limits, we soon came to a 
large iron gate that opened into a pretty park with graveled 
walks and carriage-drives that led us to the Pavilion. Know- 
ing the Governor was absent at JSTewara Eliya, we did not send 
in our cards. His excellency is enjoying his summer above 
the clouds. The attendants showed us through the palace 
and over the charming grounds. We found several cotton- 
trees with immense numbers of unopen bolls or black pods 



Kandy — Tea and Cocoa Culture. 409 

hanging from the limbs. The staple is very silky, but is 
too short to spin. Large quantities are gathered by the 
natives and exported for mattresses, pillows, etc. This cot- 
ton-tree is indigenous in Ceylon, and attains to enormous 
*ize. Judge Hughesdon informs me he has seen the same 
tree growing in Southern India. Many pretty carriage- 
drives and walks sadiate from the Pavilion. A few are pri- 
vate. We wound around to the summit of the mountain 
above Kandy by one of these roads, from which we beheld 
a panorama of tropical nature unequaled in the world. 
Thousands of feet below us was the city, nestled with its 
little lake amid its wealth of foliage. Beyond were mount- 
ains that towered away in lofty grandeur. We descended 
by Lady Houghton's walk, and after breakfast started in 
our bandy to Peradenya, or Government Botanical Gar- 
dens. A dash of two miles by a hard road brought us in 
front of the entrance. The drive was perfectly charming, 
through a continuous village the entire distance. Some of 
the huts were covered with palm-leaves; others built of 
bamboo and mud, under a coat of whitewash, looked quite 
agreeable. The Singhalese are fond of fruit and flowers, 
which they gather about their homes in profusion ; but 
like all the nations of the Orient, they are slaves to super- 
stition and foolish traditions. 

Judge Hughesdon directed my attention to the "spotted 
pot" in the front yard of a native. It resembled an in- 
verted coffee-pot stuck on the end of a pole, with spots of 
white and black all over it. It is supposed you have an 
evil eye, and this device is employed to divert it. The wife 
or daughter might be charmingly beautiful; you might 
fancy his dog or elephant, or probably decoy a few of his 
"kids" away, should you chance to see them. We saw 
bamboos along the road a foot in diameter, and trees of 
jack and bread-fruit were quite numerous. All the coolie 



410 Around the World in 188%. 

has to do is to shake the tree, and down conies his dinner. 
When we had arrived in front of the grand entrance to the 
gardens we discovered a race-track opposite, where the 
English enjoy their " handicaps." With foot-ball, cricket, 
and racing almost under the equator, our English cousins 
must exert themselves. We sent in our letter to Dr. Henry 
Trimen, the director, who soon appeared and offered his 
personal services. Here we found the largest collection of 
palms and plants probably ever brought together and cul- 
tivated systematically. They are from every continent and 
isle of the sea that lie within the torrid zone. Here they 
attain their highest perfection in this humid clime. Dr. 
Trimen led us across the grass to show the nutmeg-tree — 
how the mace grows on the inside of its hull, unfolding its 
beauty as it opens, like a flower. The Doctor forgot to 
have me observe the necessary precautions he had taken 
against the laud-leeches. In a moment my feet and legs 
Avere covered, unobserved. I must have cleared my boots 
the first jump I made. Every leech had fastened its bloody 
teeth into me, and came near butchering me alive. When 
the Doctor proposed to show some of his fine trees and 
plants again I stood off and just admired them. We came 
directly to an immense ant-hill in a bamboo group, that was 
fast destroying it. We had seen another larger mound of 
-these destructive insects the previous morning, near the 
Pavilion, about six feet in height. They are a very large 
species of white or slightly reddish ant that throw up conical 
mounds. These must be the genus that chased the old 
travelers through the jungle years ago. But they are much 
more civilized now. Our walk led us around on the charm- 
ing banks of the little river known as Mahawellagunga 
(great sand river), in which Peradenya is so lovingly em- 
braced. I saw groups of bamboo, twenty to thirty in a 
cluster, forty feet high. Dr. Trimen presented me a speci- 



Kandy — Tea and Cocoa Culture. 



411 



men nearly twelve inches in diameter, which I will ship 
home. The green and golden are prevailing colors. The 
banyan-tree, or figus family, with its corrugated trunks 
and roots growing a foot above the ground, throwing out 
their gigantic arms fifty feet, is one of the finest sights I ever 
saw. Here the India rubber-tree is growing, black pepper, 
vanilla, allspice, ginger, cinchona (quinine), cocoa or choc- 
olate-tree, cloves, coffee, tea, cinnamon, etc. The rubber- 
tree is pierced for its gum, from which the commercial arti- 
cle is obtained. Black pepper grows in little pods on a 
climbing vine, coffee and tea on a bush. But the palm fam- 
ily just captured my heart. 




FAN-PALM. 



The fan and talifat palms are beauties. The traveler's 
palm is so named because its stems contain a cool drink of 
water for the thirsty traveler " in a dry land." The areeka 
is the specimen that bears the nut the natives use for chew- 



412 Around the World in 1884. 

ing. I described the habit in India. It is used in the 
same way here. Large numbers of boys, and even women, 
are engaged in preparing the nut with tobacco and lime, 
wrapped up in leaves, which they sell about the streets of 
Kandy and Colombo. Probably the most valuable and 
useful of all is the cocoa-nut palm, which, like the bamboo 
in China, is manufactured into every conceivable shape 
and design. The date, palmyra, and kittul are the other 
most prominent species. When the talifat is blooming it 
presents a sublimity and beauty not equaled in the world. 
It grows from the seed fifty to sixty feet in height, attain- 
ing to one hundred years old, blooms and dies. 

Dr. Trimen pointed out another grand object worthy of 
admiration. It was a group of old dead trees covered 
with a single vine that reminded me of Kenilworth Castle, 
in the west of England. As I was about to leave, the dis- 
tinguished director and scientist presented us with speci- 
mens of nutmegs from the tree. They are the most curious 
objects I ever saw. The outside hull of a nutmeg resem- 
bles a pig-nut. The nutmeg itself seems to be inclosed by 
mace. The outside hull had burst, disclosing the deep ver- 
milion of the mace, which was remarkably beautiful. 

It is court week in Kandy. The proctors, barristers, and 
the native lawyers have been busy with their cases. The 
lawyers, like the postmasters, are classified I presume. 
The Chief-justice of Ceylon is paid twenty-five thousand 
rupees per annum, solicitors and attorneys-general in pro- 
portion. At the end of the civil and military services here 
and in India — seventeen to twenty-one years, I believe — 
every officer is retired on a pension of one thousand pounds 
a year for life. The English Government is very magnan- 
imous in this; but during service she expects every man to 
do his duty. 

The cashier of the chartered Mercantile Bank gave me 



Planting in Ceylon. 413 

an amusing account of the run the natives made on him in 
Kandy when the Oriental Bank failed. He ordered his 
men to pay out nolhing but silver rupees (fifty-cent pieces) 
until the panic subsided. By this method, in two or three 
days confidence was restored, and the cashier had only 
disbursed a few thousand pounds. It required considerable 
time to count ten to fifteen thousand dollars and check it 
out. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

Planting on the Island of Ceylon — Its Vicissitudes 
— Coffee, Cinchona, Cocoa, and Tea — Sugar and 
Cotton. 

THE history of planting on the island has met with as 
many vicissitudes and assumed as many phases during 
the past thirty years as any country in the world. Up to 
the year 1869, when the leaf fungus first appeared, coffee had 
been the speculative crop that filled every planter with 
visions of affluence. " To be a coffee-planter was next to 
being a king." Money had been advanced in the most 
reckless manner by banks, they seeming as much infatu- 
ated with imaginary growing crops, which adventurers had 
promised on their paper, as the speculators themselves. 

The following most interesting history of the fragrant 
shrub, or coffee-planting, has been contributed by a distin- 
guished gentleman and friend of the author's in Ceylon, 
and I am sure it merits a careful perusal : 

" Most of the Europeans in Ceylon are Scotchmen, a 
smaller number are English, and there is a sprinkling from 
the 'Emerald Isle.' There are about a score of Germans 
and half as many Frenchmen in the island; and, all told, 
the European element, including ladies and children (foi 



414 Around the World in 188 4. 

many men have their families with them), exclusive of the 
military, might now amount to upward of four thousand 
people, who enjoy in no small measure the elegancies and 
comforts of ' homely' life. 

"A moiety of these inhabit the ' mountain zone/ and are 
engaged in planting, an occupation which a few years since, 
say before the failure of the ' coffee enterprise,' was so pop- 
ular that the nobility and gentry of Europe largely em- 
1 arked in it; for in those days to be a Ceylon coffee-planter 
' was greater than a king,' or at all events greater than some 
kings. 

"To say the least, it was a -romantic and almost princely 
life these planter gentry led between the years 1861 and 
1881 ; for although the coffee-trees began to fail rapidly in 
1879, nevertheless people's faith in the permanency of the 
industry was not appreciably shaken until some years later, 
by which time it became very apparent that the enterprise 
was doomed, and that nearly half a million acres of worn- 
out coffee land must be abandoned, or at best devoted to 
the cultivation of other products. This, however, was a 
case where the old saw, 

It is best to be off with the old love 
Before you are on with tbe new, 

would not apply; and lucky were they "who were able, while 
yet a remnant of their coffee remained, to embrace some one 
or more of the new loves — namely : cinchona, cocoa, and tea 
— just coming into notice. 

" Fortunately, it now appeared that the last-named prod- 
ucts would flourish on land unfit for coffee. Accordingly 
they who had the means and will for adopting this dernier 
ressort did so, and, such is the generosity of kind nature in 
this favored land, they were in a few years rewarded by see- 
ing their nearly devastated properties donning new robes of 
prosperity and yielding fresh wealth from these novel sources. 



Planting in Ceylon. 415 

" Many, however, had n't the funds, nor the faith or per- 
severance, to adopt new methods, and so 'threw up the 
sponge.' It had been ' easy come, easy go,' with them from 
the first. They had ' had their cake, and eaten it too,' and 
more than eaten it by ' outrunning the constable.' Coffee- 
planting had attained to so high a reputation that its vota- 
ries could get almost unlimited accommodation wherever 
credit was given or money loaned ; and the principal bank 
in the island was even more deeply infatuated than almost 
anybody else. It therefore advanced funds so recklessly 
against semi-imaginary growing crops that the speculative 
and improvident easily got possession of more money than 
they knew how to use properly, and spent it recklessly. The 
result of this mad profusion and consequent demoraliza- 
tion was the unfitting of the spendthrifts, at least pro tern., 
for any ordinary matter-of-fact pursuits, and so many of 
them, seeking 'fresh fields and pastures new,' abandoned 
their creditors, and the island too. Some others, highly de- 
serving of a better fate, also got discouraged and went away, 
either to old homes or new, carrying away from Ceylon little 
else than the fervent wishes of friends for future prosperity. 

" In the meantime the bank, having advanced large sums 
to the planters, could neither get the money back nor in 
many cases the interest accruing; but, believing that the 
embarrassments and short crops were due to unfavorable 
seasons, wholly abnormal, and that succeeding years would 
prove more auspicious, it felt constrained to increase its ad- 
vances. Thus 'good money was thrown after bad,' in the 
hope that eventually a 'bumper crop' — say a million hun- 
dred-weights or more — would be the result, and thus lead to 
the recovery of at least a greater part of their arrears. The 
hope and the effort were in vain, however, and the bank col- 
lapsed, with a multitude of poor assets, consisting mostly of 
impoverished coffee properties. 



416 Around the World in 188 '4. 

"As a matter of fact, many of the so-called coffee estates 
were deceptions — mere imitation properties, only fit to de- 
lude the unwary money-lender or entrap the verdant buyer. 
They had been got up at the expense of sacrificing many 
thousand acres of valuable forest, which cannot be replaced 
in centuries. This is a great misfortune, for these primeval 
growths answered the double purpose of drawing rain from 
the clouds and holding it in conservancy — conditions of par- 
amount importance to a tropical country, and whose grow- 
ing absence in Ceylon is even now, perhaps, fruitful of 
many agricultural disorders. Under any circumstances the 
result of this spoliation is pitiable, for it occurred in one of 
the most delightful regions of the world, well suited to Eu- 
ropean residence, and the land so desolated — capable of 
sustaining a magnificent forest growth — was susceptible, no 
doubt, of profitable agriculture under a different style of 
cultivation. All of this now melancholy waste lies between 
the altitudes of fifteen hundred and five thousand feet above 
the sea, where the temperature the year round is about 
analogous to that of New England in summer. Fruits and 
vegetables of almost every sort can be grown in it, and a 
truly paternal and fostering Government has so tapped it 
with railways and covered it with carriage-roads that loco- 
motion into its remotest parts almost is not only convenient 
but pleasurable. 

" Many people living in the low country bordering on the 
sea, where the climate is torrid, often seek relief and com- 
fort by going into the planting districts ; and every day in 
the year witnesses parties of pleasure-seekers, in gay caval- 
cades, on mail-coaches, and not unfrequently in their own 
equipages, journeying among the hills, meeting in the wild- 
est places here and there hedge-rows of roses, oleanders, 
and perfumed grasses, besides numerous other blossoming 
umbragia freely growing by the way-side. 



Planting in Ceylon. 417 



" Comfortable hostelries, established by Government, called 
'rest houses/ located along the roads within easy stages, also 
afforded shelter, rest, and refreshment for travelers; and he 
or she who would find fault with either the accommodation 
or fare to be got at many of them would certainly be diffi- 
cult to please. 

"Kandy, that quaint and delightful amphitheatrical city 
(the whilom capital of the native kingdom, which remained 
independent until loug after almost every sovereignty of 
what is now British India submitted to English domina- 
tion), being easily accessible, forms a sort of mountain me- 
tropolis, where, in a beautiful mansion called the Pavilion, 
surrounded by a noble park and exquisite flower-garden, 
and looking out upon the fruitful and lovely Dumbera val- 
ley, the Governor usually resides for a considerable portion 
of the year; and 'Nuwara Eliya' (City of Light), a sanita- 
rium six thousand feet above the sea, affords a fashionable 
rendezvous, where people of means largely resort for health 
and sport, enthusiastically engaging in those games and 
pastimes — namely, cricket, foot-ball, lawn tennis, horse-racing 
and elk-hunting, et hoc genus omne — dear to the English peo- 
ple. 

"During the interval between the'Nuwara Eliya' and 
'Colombo' seasons large parties of fashionables, consisting 
sometimes of the highest local officials, from the Governor 
and his family downward, and private notables, are fre- 
quently entertained with princely hospitality at the neat 
and cosy bungalows of prominent planters. And formerly, 
when coffee was king, its reputedly successful attaches were 
often to be met traveling about the world so ostentatiously 
that people who encountered them, though their own condi- 
tions in life might be very comfortable, were nevertheless 
rendered quite dissatisfied with their lot, and made to de- 
plore their not being Ceylon coffee-planters. Those not 
27 



418 Around the World in 188 4. 

traveling abroad usually spent the Colombo fashionable sea- 
son in that beautiful maritime town, where an enlarged 
edition of 'Nuwara Eliya' dissipation would be indulged 
in, including not a little gambling at the club and their 
friends' houses. 

"In this connection a story is told of an up-country gentle- 
man — with a bank account already too largely overdrawn 
— who paid his losses one evening with a check drawn in 
favor of 'manure account .... estate' to the tune of 
some thousands of rupees. No doubt the estate would have 
needed manure bad enough, and probably such a plea for 
the check was the most likely way of getting it honored, 
for the bank officials at last began to realize that only heavy 
fertilizing would secure the 'bumper crops' they looked 
forward to so anxiously for a return of their outlying capi- 
tal. About this period, therefore, strenuous efforts were 
made for manuring coffee properties; but in many cases 
such improper substances — principally oil-cakes — were used 
that the soil was rather poisoned than otherwise; so that 
what with poor land and a slipshod mode of planting in 
the beginning, disforesting with its evil consequences, and 
the use of poisonous manure, destruction was surely engen- 
dered. Moreover, when the coffee-trees began to die there 
fastened upon them, jwobably as a result of decay, a fun- 
gus which was dignified with the name Hemeilia vertutrix, 
and to this highly-dubbed misuomer was given the credit (?) 
of all the evils coffee suffered from. This led to an inunda- 
tion of the island by quacks and enthusiasts (claiming an 
ability to cure this disease with the high-sounding name), 
by whose advice new empiricisms were inflicted upon the 
unfortunate shrub until it was almost a wonder that a sin- 
gle sound coffee-tree was left standing outside of the Gov- 
ernment Botanical Gardens, where, luckily, the fallacy of 
trying to restore the efficacy of a worn-out plant by ridding 



Planting in Ceylon. 419 



it of a natural symptom of decay was clearly understood 
by a capable director of the institution, and by him pub- 
lished pro bono publico. Dr. Trimen's unpalatable fiat 
could not be ignored, and a general acquiescence in it, and 
the adoption of wholesome modes of cultivation in lieu of 
doubtful experiments, resulted in the saving of perhaps two 
hundred thousand acres of good coffee, still in bearing, and 
capable of producing about four hundred thousand hundred- 
weights of the fragrant berry per annum ; whereas the crop 
in 1877, when nearly three-quarters of a million acres were 
in cultivation, was about a million hundred-weights, worth 
five million dollars. 

" In the foregoing use of the past tense it is not the writer's 
intention to intimate that the practical failure of the coffee 
enterprise and collapse of the Oriental Bank (circumstances 
serious enough in their effects to be sure) caused a cessation 
of the charming modes of life among planters; for hap- 
pily the historian is not called upon to record so unfortu- 
nate a termination, but may rather add that the allure- 
ments of this lovely clime and prospect of renewed pros- 
perity from growing new products, stimulated many to 
persevere in the planting enterprise, and their success is 
such that the late flourishing condition has escaped the total 
reversal once thought to be threatening it, and has only 
been sensibly modified ; and it may be possible, in the not 
far distant future, for Ceylon to enjoy a more solid pros- 
perity than it has known in the past, and for 'globe-trot- 
ters' again to meet in far-off lands, traveling in search of 
pleasure or in the pursuit of science, with all the evidences 
of wealth about them as of yore — planters in Ceylon who 
after exhausting coffee, found another bonanza in tea, cocoa, 
or cinchona." 

On the morning of the 3d of May I started alone by 
railway to Gambola Station, ten miles distant, around lofty 



420 Aroimd the World in I884. 

mountains down a charming valley of terraced rice-fields, 
to visit the Mariawatte tea estate, the most celebrated in 
Ceylon. This whole region around Gambola looked like it 
had been dropped out of heaven, it was so beautiful. The 
tea-farms on the high lands and paddy-fields in the valleys 
stretched for miles away in picturesque beauty to the foot- 
hills of blue ethereal mountains. Mariawatte, with its six 
hundred acres of tea-shrubs, lay about a mile distant in 
full view of the station. A short walk led me through the 
farm, where one hundred and fifty Tamil coolies, men and 
women, as black as ebony, were picking the new leaves from 
the bushes. Each coolie had a little bamboo basket, into 
which the tender young leaves were dropped. Not finding 
the manager at his bungalow, I hurried down to the curing 
house, or factory, where I met a well-educated young man 
weighing the "pickings." He informed me his name was 
H. L. Ingles, the manager. I replied I was a " G. T." from 
America, and when he was at leisure I would like to use 
my gimlet on him. " You are a newspaper man, ain't you ? " 
Perhaps ! " Very few Americans ever come this way. One 
minute, if you please." I was rejoiced when he changed 
from the Tamil to the English tongue. Here are two words 
of that outlandish brogue : " Pullenayagane " and " Muttu- 
kistua." Excuse me. Tell me about tea-planting. We 
think we can grow the shrub in my country — the State of 
Georgia — where some efforts have been made ; but our peo- 
ple do not understand the method of cultivation or curing 
sufficiently, it seems, to make it a complete success. 

" Well, sir, Mariawatte has about six hundred acres — four 
hundred planted out, as you see, and one hundred acres in 
full bearing. I am preparing another hundred, which I 
shall be pleased to show you directly. We get our seed 
from India — "Assam hybrid" — plant in beds and then 
transplant in rows, four by four feet, which requires three 



Planting in Ceylon. 421 



thousand plants to the acre. Little cultivation, except 
weeding with the hoe, is required after the first year. In 
two or three years, or earlier, the picking begins. Only 
new shoots or leaves are gathered every nine days. The 
bush remains an evergreen the year round. At eighteen 
months after planting we begin to prune. We keep the 
bush cut back to twenty-two to twenty-four inches, the most 
convenient height for picking. A coolie picks about fifteen 
pounds a day of the young green leaves, sometimes a hand- 
ful from one bush, for which we pay him a little less than 
one-fourth of a rupee a day (about ten cents of American 
money). The coolie works from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. without 
stopping. A few have a little rice to eat at one o'clock, 
which they find themselves. Fresh ground, or new ground, 
is preferred for original plantings; cost fifteen to twenty- 
five dollars ; with clearing and planting, probably fifty dol- 
lars per acre." 

The coolies are coming with their pickings to be weighed 
every hour or two through the day. Each one receives a 
check, and is paid every week or month. The manager 
furnishes rice at a stipulated price throughout the year, and 
lodgings free. 

From the weighing-house the tea-leaves are carried in bulk 
to the withering-house and spread on trays. In twelve to 
fifteen hours they become malleable — soft as a kid glove. 
They are now 7 taken to tables and rolled until the cells are 
broken and the twist is given. The next process is to place 
them in trays, or cases, until fermentation takes place, which 
is known by the leaves assuming a bright copper-color. The 
tea is now ready for firing. The old or China method is by 
kettles. The new method adopted by Mr. Ingles is by a 
machine called the sirocco. It is the best yet discovered. 
The trays are placed one above another, like they are done 
in the Georgia patent fruit-drier. The treatment then is 



422 Around the World in 1884. 

by currents of hot air, which cures the leaves in fifteen to 
eighteen minutes — one hour or more by the kettles. Taken 
out of the machine and emptied again on large tables, it 
"breaks up into fine particles, or pieces, retaining the twist. 
Different numbers of sieves (wire) are then used for classi- 
fying it, number twelve giving the finest quality. Before 
packing in boxes it is re-fired and poured in hot. The 
box, made out of the jack-tree boards, is lined with tin-foil, 
nailed up, marked with its class, and shipped to Mincing 
Lane, London. Broken Pekoe, Pekoe, and Pekoe Souchong 
are Mr. Ingles's brands. The actual cost of production and 
curing here is nine pence, or eighteen cents, per pound. It 
brings readily one shilling and three pence to one shilling 
and eleven pence, equal to thirty-one cents and forty-seven 
cents per pound. Three or four hundred pounds per acre 
may be considered a fair yield on this estate. As high as 
seven hundred pounds have been made in Ceylon — a most 
profitable crop. This Ceylon tea is coming more into favor 
every day in England. Mr. Ingles presented the author 
several very fine samples, equal, it is thought, to the best 
China. 

I found Mr. Ingles building a new house, and he being a 
bachelor, it looked quite suspicious. The bill of lumber was 
sawed out on the spot. The jack-tree was cut into logs, 
faced and lined. Two men with a cross-cut saw, one stand- 
ing on top and the other below the log, elevated, were un- 
der a full head of steam when I left. This is the best port- 
able saw-mill in Ceylon — capacity, one to two hundred feet 
p< r day. Both coffee and cocoa, to a limited extent, are 
growing on this estate. 

Returning, I passed a long row of brick tenement-houses, 
where I found the Tamils on a dirt floor, packed in little 
rooms eight by ten, with a peck of rice a week. When 
rice advances the planter loses, when it declines he makes a 



Planting in Ceylon. 423 



profit. It is always sold at a stipulated price. With their 
curry and vegetables, these coolies are as happy as our 
Georgia freedmen would be in the Governor's mansion. If 
I had time I would ascend from Gambola to Nuwara Eliya, 
six thousand feet above the sea and two thousand feet above 
Gambola. 

As we approached Kandy on our return we saw a mount- 
ain where "devil-worship" among the Buddhists was once 
practiced. At these midnight orgies beautiful girls are said 
to have been sacrificed to appease the wrath of the devil 
for the coming year. The victims were bound to a stake 
with their hands and feet tied, around which the devil- 
priests reveled in their demoniacal lamentations. An inci- 
dent is related to prove the efficacy and power of prayer 
from a believer in Jesus. A young girl whom they had 
thus abandoned prayed that she might be saved. On re- 
turning the following morning and finding her alive they 
became frightened, and on hearing her story forever discon- 
tinued the sacrifice. But from all I can learn there are 
devil-worshipers here yet. They believe he is the cause of 
all their sickness. They have even got a devil-priest who 
gets up his band of music, the tom-tom (little drum), and 
puts on a mask — a frightful scarecrow — that is enough to 

scare the out of his wits. This sainted man dances all 

night with his throng of dervishes, praying to his satanic 
majesty to release the poor sick man. He says lots of fun- 
ny things to make the people laugh, and in the morning 
the priest takes a picture of the dead man out of the house, 
which he tries to make the devil believe is the real man, 
and believing disappears. 

My English friends joined me the following morning in 
a drive to the Pally Kelly estate, some nine miles distant. 
The Government has built the finest public roads to reach 
all parts of Ceylon, and this one, I must confess, was ex- 



424 Around the World in 1884. 

ceptionally good. We saw on the way many cotton-trees, 
school-houses, and churches, native huts, buffalo cows, and 
elephants. This species of cattle I expect to find around 
the world has a thick hide like a rhinoceros, often with no 
hair whatever to hide its ugliness ; it wallows in the mud 
like a hog. I saw one indulging in a bath in a river down 
which we rode for miles. The elephant stood near the gar- 
den of a native, perfectly gentle. This noble animal has 
been so much hunted during past years for its tusks, and 
recklessly slaughtered, the Government of Ceylon was com- 
pelled to impose a heavy fine on all hunters killing them. 
Crossing the river, we entered the finest cocoa estate on the 
island — six hundred acres in beai'ing. There was consid- 
erable Liberian coffee growing, bearing a good crop. Cocoa- 
nuts, vanilla, and black pepper were among the interesting 
objects noticed. Mr. Waller welcomed us to his charming 
bungalow, and served each of us with a refreshing glass of 
cocoa-nut milk. Here we found most elegant drawing- 
rooms, with charming books and pictures. There was ev- 
ery evidence of the highest culture and enjoyment about 
this lovely home. We did not meet Mr. Waller's wife, but 
I saw her taste and refinement dominant everywhere. From 
its commanding position a charming picture of loveliness 
was presented in the natural beauty of the landscape. The 
entire slopes of the hills and valleys below glowed with the 
wealth of the chocolate-tree. This tree bears a pod in 
Avhich the beans are inclosed. They bear at five to six 
years old, fifty pods to the tree, with three hundred trees to 
the acre, averaging six to seven hundred pounds of beans. 
This will pay one hundred and fifty dollars net per acre. 
Like tea, chocolate or cocoa trees grow best between five 
and fifteen degrees of latitude. Spain is the largest con- 
sumer of this aromatic drink, and it is esteemed the great- 
est misfortune for the poorest peasant not to be able to drink 



Planting in Ceylon. 425 



it in that country. We saw large quantities of coffee-ber- 
ries being sunned and stirred by the coolie, while passing 
through Mr. Waller's village. The school-master ran out 
to present me the Tamil alphabet he had cut on palmetto- 
Leaves duriug my absence at the bungalow in acknowledg- 
ment of a small contribution I made to purchase the chil- 
li reu Sunday-school books. He informed me Mr. Waller 
paid ail expenses of the school for his tenantry, and was a 
very good man. The teacher showed me how he taught 
the Tamil children to make figures and write in sand. He 
remarked that small children in this way were enabled to 
hold a stick to begin forming characters with while they 
could not hold a pen. 

Returning to Colombo, Sir John and other friends gladly 
welcomed me. Mr. Palmer, my room-mate, had missed me 
for some days, he said, and had been keeping bachelor's 
hall. Sir John had been engaged in answering correspond- 
ents, reading, and driving. Mr. Reese and family, with Mr. 
Palmer, were on the eve of their departure to Melbourne, 
Australia. Mr. E. E. Carleton, of New York, with whom 
we had passed many happy hours on the "Kaiser I. Hind," 
a young man of the most generous impulses and exalted 
character, had already sailed. I never could forget his dis- 
interested friendship* for me and many acts of uniform kind- 
ness. Others of our passengers had left for Europe, and 
our steamer, the "Hydaspes," was reported in sight for China. 
Here we were parting never to meet again, our paths di- 
verging to every part of the globe. In two or three days 
we should be gone. 

Since Mr. Palmer's departure the black crows have been 
my companions. The pesky birds steal my bread and butter 
every morning near my window. I have rather tempted 
them to these unlawful indulgences by some encouragement, 
given they were not slow to take advantage of. T amused 



426 Around the World in 188Jf. 

myself by throwing out crumbs of bread to see them scuffle 
over it before reaching the open court below. They would 
hardly ever fail to overtake the prize. This is the same 
species of black crow we have in Georgia. He is fussing, 
cawing, and into everybody's business. I have been tempt- 
ed to destroy one of these pirates before leaving Colombo. 
They have a fish here that climbs a tree, another that hides 
in the mud, and a lizard three feet long. The shank (a 
live shell fish), the seer, shark, talipot, sardines, and bonitoes 
are most commonly seen. 

, Colombo is the center of the great pearl fisheries in the 
Indian Ocean. The pearl is found in a very large species 
of oyster, in great depths of the sea. The tortoise shells are 
worth thirty to forty dollars each, and when manufactured 
into paper-cutters, combs, work-boxes, and pretty ornaments, 
bring fabulous prices. The natives are experts at boating 
and fishing, employing many ingenious devices for ensnar- 
ing or catching fish. They drive them into bamboo pens 
and suspend large baggy nets in the water, and draw the 
fish over them by feeding them. There is a little boat in 
the harbor I have not seen elsewhere. It has a long, nar- 
row body, and sits high out of the water. There are two 
poles, projecting at right angles from each end, on one side 
about ten feet long. The poles curve downward, the ends 
being fastened to a small log that floats on the water. This 
ingenious contrivance prevents upsetting. 

Both cotton and sugar-cane are little cultivated on the 
island. In Jaffna the natives spin and weave cotton cloth 
on looms over two hundred years old: 



Christian Progress in Ceylon. 427 

CHAPTER XLII. 

Cheistian Progress and the American Mission in 
Ceylon. 

THE progress of Christianity in Ceylon has not been so 
great as its friends could wish ; nevertheless, consider- 
ing that it is called upon to displace the mild philosophy of 
Buddha, coupled with the gross superstitions of Hindoo- 
ism so dear to the hearts of the ignorant and weak-minded, 
much has been accomplished; and a majority of the con- 
verts have probably been as sincere and consistent believers 
in our Saviour as would be found among a like number of 
average professing Christians in most Western countries. 

Among the several establishments devoted to this work 
is the American Congregationalist Mission at Bettacotta, 
with a following of some three thousand people. It was 
established about 1816, and bears a high reputation, espe- 
cially in respect to educational affairs. Its first represent- 
atives — Messrs. Poor, Scudder, and Saunders — were, it seems, 
on arrival arrested as spies by the British Colonial Gov- 
ernment, but afterward released ; whereupon they selected 
the Northern Peninsula as a field of labor, and located 
their establishment near the neighborhood of the most 
wretched and unfortunate people on earth. Here, appar- 
ently, their success has been fully commensurate with their 
means; for public report gives the American Mission at 
Bettacotta a high record. Among many interesting cir- 
cumstances connected with the mission, especially of this 
period, is the fact that more than one of the college grad- 
uates bear the name of Cleveland, in consequence of a 
custom there of calling pupils who have embraced Chris- 
tianity after the charitable people, mostly Americans, who 
have undertaken to defray the cost of their education. 



428 Around the World in 188 4. 

Thus, to the writer's knowledge, the family name of our be- 
loved President is borne by two estimable professional native 
gentlemen, a doctor and a lawyer, both of whom graduated 
from the Bettacotta College; and the establishment still re- 
joices in the presence of very near relatives of our present 
Chief Magistrate in the persons of the Rev. Mr. Hastings 
(principal) and his wife,- the latter being an own sister to 
President Cleveland. 

In conversation with Jaffna Tamil people — who, by the 
way, were mostly educated by the Americans, and are to be 
found occupying responsible and lucrative positions in the 
busiest towns of the island — one hears mentioned with re- 
spect and eulogy the names of perhaps a score of gentlemen 
who in the past, when connected with this mission, earned 
the admiration of all who knew them by their consistent 
and devoted labor; and that the institution still preserves 
its prestige is evinced by the interesting fact that in August 
last, when Governor Gordon was on his northern tour, he 
visited the establishment of Bettacotta and was so pleased 
with it that he left behind a personal donation of 1,000 Rs., 
and always has much to say in praise of the mission. The 
other Protestant missions in the island, to mention them in the 
order of their establishment, are: The Baptist, commenced 
in 1812; Wesleyan, commenced in 1814; Church Mission, 
commenced in 1818. All of these are in a highly prosper- 
ous condition, and number among them about fifty-eight 
thousand followers; whereas the Roman Catholic propa- 
ganda, established by the Portuguese in 1544, has over two 
hundred and ten thousand adherents. According to the 
last census, taken in 1884, the whole population of the 
island was two million seven hundred and fifty-nine thou- 
sand seven hundred and sixty-one, or very near three million, 
divided into the following religious sects, viz. Buddhists, 
1,698,070; Hindoos, 593,630; Mohammedans, 197,775; 



Christian Progress in Ceylon. 420 

Catholics, 210,000 ; Protestants, 58,000 ; promiscuous, 2,286 ; 
total, 2,759,761 ; and the proportion of males to the whole 
was about fifty-six and two-thirds, or very nearly fifty-seven 
per cent. The Wesleyan Methodists and Episcopals are 
nearly equally divided, the Presbyterians number thirteen 
thousand, and Baptists five thousand, that make up the total 
number of Protestants. The Singhalese furnish one hun- 
dred and sixty-two thousand two hundred and seventy, or 
three-fourths of the whole of the native Christians. I find 
but three Moormen and thirty-two Malay Christians on the 
whole island. This results, I think, from the deadly an- 
tagonism that exists between the Moslem religion and Chris- 
tianity. 

The recent census shows a very singular coincidence in re- 
lation to crime. The proportion of the entire population of 
Ceylon who can read and write is but 15.7 per cent., while 
the per cent, of prison population so educated is 34 per 
cent. The greatest per cent, of crime exists among the ed- 
ucated Malays. 

The entire number of Christian converts in India and 
Ceylon approximates two million, including Burmah and 
Siam. The disproportion is largely in favor of the Cath- 
olics, who have been working here about three hundred 
years, while the Protestants have worked hardly one-fourth 
of that time. In the last decade the Christian population 
doubled in India, while the working force in the zenanas 
and churches increased in proportion. Since 1840 in Cey- 
lon the stations rose from forty to one hundred and fifteen, 
and the native helpers increased from eight to ninety-nine. 
The foreign agents remained about the same. 

In my farewell to Colombo I wish to express my profound 
obligations and sense of gratified appreciation of the kindness 
and valuable information I received from our popular and 
most efficient Consul, Hon. W. Morey, long resident here as 



430 Around the World in 188Jf. 



Consul of the United States Government; Messrs. Volk 
Bros. ; Delmege, Eeid & Co. ; Ismael Lebbe & Son ; the Gov- 
ernor's office, the managers of the Grand Oriental, and oth- 
ers, for remembered courtesies. 

In a few hours Ceylon — the pearl of the Indian Ocean, 
the gemmed isle of the sea — had sunk below my vision, and 
left my thoughts to me. 

What though the spicy breezes 

Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle, 
Though every prospect pleases, 

And only man is vile? 

There is a touching incident associated with Ceylon that 
saddens every traveler who beholds it. It is the death of 
Bishop Coke, who died on his way out from England to 
India, May 3, 1814, and was buried at sea, not far from 
Ceylon. It was through his efforts that the Wesleyan "Meth- 
odist missions were introduced and established in this quar- 
ter of the globe. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

Ok the Indian Ocean — Straits of Malacca — 
Penang, Singapore, etc. 

IN three days we sight the mountains of Sumatra on our 
right, and shortly after Malacca on the left. One day 
it looked like we would have a cyclone, the angry sea rolled 
its billows over our ship so high. But the cares and the 
sorrows of yesterday are chased away by the pleasures of 
to-morrow. We have joyous sunshine again and beautiful 
moonlight nights. Sir John and I are the only Calcutta 
passengers bound for China. All new faces at the tabic. 
Several English officers, with their wives, for Singapore, 
two or three bankers for Hong Kong and Yokohama, and 
a missionary for Pekin, with a half dozen others for Shang- 



On the Indian Ocean. 431 

hai, make up our passenger list. It is one month yet to 
Shanghai. Our officers are Scotch and English, but our 
sailors are Mohammedan Hindoos, with Zanzibar negroes 
for coal-bunkers. The "Hydaspes" is a Peninsular and 
Oriental ship, a beautiful steamer, with a staff of polite and 
efficient officers. Since the storm we have the calmest seas 
imaginable. We are right between the monsoons, with the 
finest weather possible. The African firemen sit on deck, eat 
their curry, with dried fish, and tell long stories like their 
Georgia cousins. I imagine they would enjoy " 'possum and 
potatoes" equally as well (I am sorry I mentioned that 
dish). Every now and then one will break his sides laugh- 
ing. They have low insteps, flat noses, thick lips, and flat, 
kinky heads. They are the genus homos of pure African 
scent; Mohammedans in religion, if any thing. They eat 
with their left-hand, and do all the dirty work with the 
other. They laugh and talk while eating. Each group sits 
around a large pan of rice twice a day. They are fond of 
"scuffling, or the double shuffle, and are not at all partic- 
ular about their partners." 

We have been sailing east with slight variations ever 
since we left New York. In a few days we shall turn the 
curviture of the earth's surface, with a slight bearing to the 
north. Every day brings us nearer the equator, which we 
shall almost touch at Singapore, the farther end of the 
Malacca Straits we have just entered. 

On yesterday we passed the one hundred and eightieth 
degree of longitude, having completed just half my voyage 
around the world. 

The approach to Penang is remarkably beautiful. The 
numerous small islands dotting the bay, the fishermen's huts, 
and their bamboo trap-pens on the edge of the sea, lend a 
picturesque charm to the scene. Twelve hundred and fifty 
miles from Colombo and six hours' stroll on the shore. We 



432 



Around the World in I884. 




WE DOS'T MIX!) IT. 



(hive to the Cascades, a 
few miles in the rear of the 
city, and ascending the 
mountain along the little 
stream, several hundred 
feet high, enjoy an en- 
raptured view of the city below us, with its harbor, studded 
with sail, Chinese junks, and sampans. The bay gleams 
like a mirror through the dense tropical foliage of the palm- 
tree. The city of Penang belongs to the English, and con- 
tains a population of eighty thousand inhabitants, mostly 
Chinese. Many of these are subjects of the British Gov- 
ernment, some of them having been born here under its 
flag. They yield full allegiance to the Crown, and appear 
rather proud of their native country., I observed a good 
deal of manufacturing in tin, brass, wood, and even black- 
smith-shops conducted by Chinese. Considerable trade was 
going on in every line of business. In some of the stores I 
saw imported goods from England. Many of the houses 
are finely built of wood and brick, a few of the private res- 
idences along the drive to the Cascades being especially 



On the Indian Ocean. 433 

noticeable for their architectural beauty and pretty gardens 
of shrubbery. In some of these the fan and traveler's palms 
were growing — perfect beauties. I saw several josh houses 
of the Chinese, and a funeral-procession I will describe far- 
ther on. Here were the Hong Kong geese, Shanghai chick- 
ens, ducks, and the first hogs we had seen — all Chinese. 
These people are very fond of bits of fat pork with their 
vegetables for dinner. 




MALAY BOY. 



On one street we saw a large quantity of nutmegs (like 
pig-nuts) drying, and the English houses were piled high 
28 



434 Around the World h W-. 

with boxes of spice, pimento, etc. The Chinese live upstairs 
over their stores, and often in rear of the first floor. In 
one of these I found their gods sitting on a mantel-piece con- 
venient for "worship. By this arrangement the Chinamen 
need not lose any time attending church. You can buy any 
number of these gods, in jade stone and carved in wood, on 
the streets. The Chinese bankers were standing behind 
counters in open shops, with piles of Mexican silver dollars, 
ready for business. Just before we reached the market a 
villainous-looking Malay approached us, speaking very 
bad English. He was a self-constituted guide — pointed to 
different objects, houses and things, with explanatory ges- 
ticulations. We paid no attention to the pirate ; but the 
more disgusted Ave became the more courtesy he showed us. 
We finally determined on a desperate expedient. It was to 
rush him through the dried fish market, for Ave felt confi- 
dent the stench would destroy him. He came out at the op- 
posite end unscathed. We then paid him off and discharged 
him. A Japanese Avho accompanied us escaped by a side- 
door, nearly deranged. In the vegetable department Ave 
saw fresh fish, shrimp, pork, poultry, crabs, sweet and Irish 
potatoes, pease, beans, etc. The fruit was in endless variety. 
Here Avas a fruit we had never seen before. Something 
ueAV — must be delicious. " What is it? " addressing a Malay 
man. "The dorian, sir. Would you like to taste it?" 
" Yes, certainly ; it resembles a pine-apple. Goodness gra- 
cious! polecats and skunks!" "How do you like it, sir? 
Very fine in Penang!" "You don't eat this, do you?" 
" Yes, sir ! " " Burned feathers and assafetida ! you ought to be 
hanged ! " " Yes, sir ; the English people here eat it. You see 
it requires a cultivated taste for the dorian." " Yes, I see." 
That dorian produced a stampede in my party, and I 
never could organize the boys again for sight-seeing in 
Penang. We took a boat called a sampan for the "Hydas- 



On the Indian Ocean. 



435 



pes." It had eyes painted on the bow. We asked Johnny, the 
Chinese boatman, "What's that for?" With a broad grin, 
he replied : " No got eye no can see, no can see no can savee ; 
no can savee no can walkee; no can walkee how can?" 
This was pigeon (business) English, the full translation of 
which is, " Without eyes the boat could not see to go along." 




' \N0 GOT EYE NO CAN SEE." 

This was the first pigeon English we had heard. It was 
more refreshing than the dorian. 

At night fish darting about in these crystal waters appear 
to carry torches with them. The oars of the sampan seem 
to dip up the "liquid light." The rain-drops that dimple 
the sea are turned into myriads of diamonds. 

The Governor of the island resides at Singapore, and 
when he visits here, it is said, the cannons boom and the 
natives tremble at his approach. When power is once ac- 
quired by the English they understand how to hold it. 

We have observed that our currency has changed from 
rupees iuto Mexican dollars, and the catamaran of India 



436 Around the World in 188Jf. 

into the sampan of China. We find our decks full of " Ce- 
lestials," and more coming from the shore. We hear that 
two hundred are awaiting our arrival at Singapore. Made 
their fortune in the Straits ; now going home to spend it. 
They occupy the fore part of our deck, with their baskets, 
trunks, boxes, matting, rice-bags, crates of ducks, chickens, 
vegetables, coal-stoves for cooking, opium-pipes, and fumes 
in general. What an opportunity for studying the life, 
habits, and character of these strange people we shall enjoy 
for the next ten days to Hong Kong! Wonderful nation! 
It is full of progress — the elements of a higher civilization 
that has affected the literature and molded the thought of 
Eastern and Western Asia. They have literally overflowed 
the shores of their country into Siam, Burmah, Australia, 
and the Pacific slopes of North America. The original 
Ainos, or Japanese, civilization may be traced to China, 
while the Island of Formosa, with Cochin China, Corea, 
and Borneo, have been largely molded by Chinese thought 
and life. Educate and Christianize this wonderful empire, 
with its four hundred million of inhabitants, and you have 
won for Christ nearly one-third of the whole world. 

We have a run of three hundred and thirty miles down 
the Malay coast before reaching Singapore. On our left 
we pass the beautiful city of Malacca, on the main-land — 
once a prosperous place of business, but of late years its 
principal trade has been diverted to Singaj)ore. The Brit- 
ish flag is flying above the fort, and a few Chinese junks 
and native craft are strolling about the harb r. Dining 
the American war Capt. Raphael Semmes, of the gallant 
"Alabama," was entertained royally by the English ladies 
resident at Malacca. Its milk-white houses gleam under 
the shadows of lofty mountains in the background, whose 
sloping sides are covered with a jungle of small canes, for 
which the Malacca province is so celebrated. 



On the Indian Ocean. 437 

Singapore, or " the city of lions," is situated at the ex- 
treme eastern end of the Straits of Malacca, on a point of 
a long peninsula that projects southward from the conti- 
nent of Asia. The island is only separated from the main- 
land by a narrow channel of several hundred yards in 
width, being twelve miles wide and twenty-seven miles long. 
The Straits of Malacca connect the Indian Ocean with the 
China Sea, and Singapore is situated at the mouth that 
opens into it. No city in the world enjoys such commercial 
advantages. All ships passing eastward by the Cape of 
Good Hope, or through the Suez Canal, or from India, 
must enter this toll-gate, or pass through the Straits of 
Sunda, that separates Malacca from Borneo. In either 
event nearly all ships call at Singapore for coal, freights, and 
fresh supplies of provisions. 

It was on the morning of the 17th of May we steamed up 
to the wharf of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, 
among numerous small islands and tortuous channels. The 
water seemed very deep. We looked up "inlets and into 
sheltered coves," and saw the native huts ; covered with 
palm-leaves setting on bamboo posts. The fishermen's boats, 
in which the families lived, were tied below as the water 
ebbed and flowed. 

Rounding to the wharf to avoid the coral reefs, the cres- 
cent-shaped harbor revealed the sail and shipping from every 
land and sea. Great steamers were coaling for their lon£ 
"homeward" stretch across the Indian Ocean. I thought 
of the gallant Captain Semmes, with his dauntless little 
ship-of-war, sailing into Singapore twenty-one years ago. 
What enthusiasm and curiosity the presence of the "Ala- 
bama" must have excited among the natives, who rushed 
aboard to aee the great black giants they heard were chained 
below ! The character of the different nations trading at 
Singapore, etc., is so graphically described in his "Service 



438 Around the World in I884. 

Afloat," I am tempted to make a few extracts. After al- 
luding to his hearty reception by the people and city, Ad- 
miral Semmes remarks : 

"These crowds were themselves a curiosity to look upon, 
formed as they were of all the nations of the earth, from the 
remote East and the remote West. Singapore, being a free 
port and a great center of trade, there is always a large 
fleet of shipping anchored in its waters, and its streets and 
other marts of commerce are constantly thronged with a 
promiscuous multitude. The canal — there being one lead- 
ing to the rear of the town — is filled with country boats 
from the surrounding coasts, laden with the products of the 
different countries from which they come. There is the 
pepper boat from Sumatra, and the coaster of larger size 
laden with tin ore ; the spice boats from the spice islands ; 
boats with tin ore, hides, and mats, from Borneo ; boats from 
Siam, with gums, hides, and cotton ; boats from the differ- 
ent parts of the Malay peninsula, with canes, gutta-percha 
and India rubber. In the bay are ships- from all parts of 
the East; from China with silk and teas; from Japan with 
lacquer-ware, raw silk, and curious manufactures of iron, 
steel, and paper; from the Philippine Islands, with sugar, 
hides, tobacco, and spices. Intermixed with these are the 
European and American ships, with the products of their 
various countries. As a consequence, all the races and all 
the religions of the world were represented in the throng 
that crowded the coaling jetty to look upon the 'Alabama,' 
Avearing the flag of a new nation, mysterious for its very dis- 
tance from them. We were to their Eastern eyes a curious 
people of the antipodes. 

"The physical aspects of the throng were no less curious 
than its moral. There were the Malay, the Chinese, the 
Japanese, the Siamese, the Hindoo, the Persian, the wild 
Tartar, the Bornese, the Sumatran, the Javanese, and even 



On the Indian Ocean. 439 

the New Zealander; all dressed — or undressed, as the case 
might be — in the garb of their respective tribes and coun- 
tries. Some of the most notable objects among the crowd 
were jet black Africans, with the amplest of petticoat trou- 
sers gathered at the knee, sandaled feet and turbaned 
heads — the more shining the jet of the complexion the more 

shining the turban Some of the wonder-mongers 

actually believed that we kept chained in the hold of the 
'Alabama' sevei*al negro giants (they had heard something 
about the negro and slavery having something to do with 
the war) whom we armed with immense weapons and let 
loose in time of battle, as they were wont to do their ele- 
phants ! They waited patiently for hours under their paper 
umbrellas, hoping to catch a sight of these monsters. 

" Singapore, which was a fishing village half a century 
ago, contains a hundred thousand inhabitants, and under 
the free port system has become a great center of trade. 
. . . . Great Britain, with infinite forecaste, not only 
girdles the seas with her ships, but the land with trading 
stations. In her colonization and commerce consists her 
power." 

The foregoing is a true picture of Singapore to-day, ex- 
cept that much of her former trade that came from China 
and Japan is now done through open ports at home. 

•On our ship coming from Penang was a wealthy Chinese 
gentleman, with whom I became well acquainted. He was 
born under the British flag; spoke and wrote excellent 
English. He was making the voyage, first-class, to Hong 
Kong, on a visit to some friends in China. I recall with 
pleasure the name of Mr. Yeow Sew Beow, with whom I 
spent many pleasant hours. This gentleman informed me 
he saw the "Alabama " here when a boy. She had left a track 
of flame half around the world behind her. No less than 
twenty-two American ships had sought refuge in Singapore. 



440 Around the World in 1S84-. 

They could get no cargoes, and all commerce with the 
United States was paralyzed by the mysterious movements 
of this one little man-of-war. The " Wyoming," which had 
been watching for the "Alabama," always kept out of her 
way. In all this memorable cruise I have found Captain 
Semmes as humane as he Avas brave. He always strictly 
observed his belligerent rights under the rules of war. The 
world has not produced his superior since the days of Paul 
Jones and Nelson. 

For an hour before we had disembarked we were highly 
entertained by the w T onderful acrobatic feats of some Malay 
lads, who leaped out of their slender boats like frogs after the 
small silver coins we threw overboard. The water was so clear 
they would invariably overtake the coin before it reached 
bottom. They brought up coral and sea- weed for souvenirs 
as well. Their only clothing was a breech-cloth. On the 
shore the brilliant display of fruits vied in beauty with the 
boats of coral and lovely shells. The different hues, shapes, 
and wondrous beauty of this display were simply marvelous. 
Here were immense conch, mulex, spider crab, pearl, and 
many of the most curious shells I had ever seen. Java was 
only three days away, and Australia twelve. A regular 
line of steamers to Batavia, connecting at Singapore, af- 
forded easy communication with Java. Here you could see 
from that island the pretty red cockatoo, charming paroquets, 
and other rare birds. As for monkeys, Singapore was the 
paradise for this burlesque on man. 

The city lay off about two miles on an elevated plain. 
Here we saw the first jinrickisha, the man-power baby car- 
riage so much used in China and Japan. But we wanted 
to see all the sights in the city, including the botanical gar- 
dens, the public square, Hotel Europe, Whampoa's gardens, 
etc., and preferred a four-wheel gharry. We could not ef- 
fect a bargain with the Malay cabman. He asked a fabu- 



On the Indian Ocean. 441 

lous price, which we declined to give, and at once organized 
a pedestrian tour right under the equator. When we had 
disappeared under the interlacing branches of the banyan 
the cocoa palm, and banana trees, around a curve on a 
beautiful road, Ave heard a thundering noise in our rear. It 
was the gharryman, running his horses heels off to overtake 
us, shouting at the top of his voice. He accepted our offer, 
and we never had a more obliging coachman. His horse 
was party-colored, a little black and white pony, native of 
the island — all bottom. Pretty soon we saw a number 
which looked like a circus had just disbanded. Ours was a 
petted animal. He had to be coaxed, pulled, rubbed, and 
led off a little before he would get steam up. But when he 
did start he went "off in a jiffy," the driver jumping up. 
We all exclaimed, "Farewell, Susan Jane!" We admire 
a spirited horse in this climate for his reckless speed and 
endurance. We were soon in town. We present you a 
picture of a Malay cottage and a lady we saw on the way. 
She cast sly glances as we hurried by. She was out enjoy- 
ing a breeze. I thought of friend Ferguson at Colombo. 
He ought to be here to take statistics. I am sure this would 
be his report: From present appearances I regret to an- 
nounce a continual falling off in the importation of cotton 
goods. If the Malays of Singapore and Chinese coolies 
were each to purchase twenty cents worth of English cloth 
a year our trade would greatly prosper with that island. 
This lady only wore a skirt, with arms, shoulders, and body 
decolette. Her parlor, kitchen, dining-room, and bed-room 
are all the same. She has no chairs, bedsteads, sofas, knives, 
plates, or forks to bother her about housekeeping. She sets 
the pot aside, folds the matting away, and steps down the 
ladder for a little sight-seeing. 

There is nothing like style, even in Malacca. The re- 
Qned, educated, and wealthy maidens are described as beau 



442 



Arourid the World in I884. 




MALAY HOUSE. 



tiful (I am very sorry), with soft, lustrous eyes and droop- 
ing eyelashes. O hush ! Aud it is reported they even dress 
tastefully ! Jes-so. 

Through good fortune I secured a picture of one of these 
Malayan damsels, who wears a charming "bit of a hat," 
shaped like a cheese-box. It is twenty-four by six, but is 
light and airy. On gala nights these girls wear " lightning- 
bugs " in their hair to make themselves more attractive. 

The Malay men are athletic, well-shaped fellows, with 
dark brown eyes and copper skins. Their acceptance of the 
Moslem religion is said to have made them malignant in 
hate of their enemies. They are naturally a kind and af- 
fectionate people. 

Besides the gharry and jinrickisha, I saw bullock-carts 
with solid wheels. The ox has a hump on his back (Bur- 
mese), and works in single or double harness. Every thing 



On the Indian Ocean. 



443 




MALAYAN LADY. 



reminds us that we are approaching China. We see so 
many strange sights. We meet men wearing hats three 
feet in diameter, the crown running up into a cupola, and 
others wearing a funnel-shaped head-gear resembling an in- 
verted wash-bowl. Two-thirds of the population are prob- 
ably Chinese, the remainder Malays, East Indians, Asiatics, 
and six or seven thousand English or Europeans. The 
Chinese all wear "pig-tails." I saw a Chinese policeman 
with five cues in his hand, driving the criminals before him 
to jail. Many of the coolies wind the cues around the back 
of their heads, tied up, or sometimes wrapped around their 



444 Around the World in 1884. 

necks. But this is not orthodox. It must hang down his 
back, as an emblem of his subjection to Tartar rule. The 
coolies wear a blue cotton blouse, or cloth, about their hips. 
They step briskly past us, with a light springing bamboo 
across their shoulders, from the ends of which are suspended 
baskets, buckets, pails, and tubs. These are the market- 
men, with vegetables, eggs, fish, ducks, and chickens. We 
pass a street in which nothing but bamboo baskets are made ; 
then shops of all kinds carry on the trades in small manu- 
factures. The shoe-maker puts the heel on his boots first ; 
the carpenter draws his plane toward him instead of push- 
ing it away ; the mechanic puts the roof on his house before 
weatherboarding, etc. Being on the opposite side of the 
world, the Chinese do every thing the opposite way, I sup- 
pose. At last we reach the public square, on which Hotel 
Europe is situated. The avenues are broad and beautifully 
shaded, the houses near the hotel being generally two stories 
high, of brick, and covered with tile. This is the European 
quarter, where the power and influence of their business are 
mostly felt. 

We found our bank, the chartered Mercantile (English), 
across the canal. We j resented our letter of credit to the 
manager, and while we are talking pleasantly the China- 
man counts out the silver dollars, twirling them on his fin- 
gers to see that they are genuine. They are the best ac- 
countants and office-men I ever saw. These Mexican dol- 
lars are very inconvenient, but will be current throughout 
China and Japan. When I left Colombo the bank was 
-closed, and I could not pay Messrs. Lebbe & Son (Singha- 
lese merchants) a bill I owed them. "Give yourself •no 
liouble, please. Pay us in Singapore." I asked Mr. Lebbe 
if he was not taking risk in doing this kind of business. 
"O not much," he replied. "We hardly ever lose a cent. 
Recently a bogus nobleman got away to India with a few 



On the Indian Ocean. 44") 

thousand rupees, but I caught the noble rascal on the Bur- 
mese coast, by telegraph, and we are trying him now." 

I mention this incident to show the mutual confidence 
existing among business men on this side of the globe. It 
was the basis of all transactions with us before our civil 
war. But now a farmer in Georgia would have to mortgage 
his land or crop to raise one hundred and twenty-five dol- 
lars. 

The manager asked me if I would not have a drink of 
ice-water. The ice is manufactured here at one cent a 
pound. The punka-waller was creating a splendid breeze 
throughout the building. The inevitable " bawth " was close 
at hand; so between the equatorial showers, the punka- 
coolers, and bath-tub, an Englishman manages to exist 
throughout the year. In truth, Singapore is claimed to be 
very healthy — a kind of Madeira for the East. Here the 
sun rises and sets at six o'clock every day in the year, the 
days and nights being about equal. Singapore is situated 
seventy miles north of the equator. Here perpetual spring, 
with its bursting buds, and blooming flowers, triumphantly 
reigns. There is no winter, summer, nor autumn; show- 
ers nearly every day to temper the heat, and breezes laden 
with the perfume of nutmeg and orange groves, make it a 
veritable paradise. The mercury hardly ever falls below 
seventy degrees, or rises above ninety degrees, in Singapore. 
Neither the typhoons of the China Sea nor cyclones of the 
Indian Ocean reach these favored shores. 

I was sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Whampoa, the 
Chinese prince merchant of Singapore. We desired to see 
his charming home and gardens, two miles from town. In 
1877 Bishop Marvin and Dr. Hendrix met Mr. Whampoa 
personally, and received distinguished courtesies at his hands. 
Both of these authors have given an admirable description 
of their visit to these celebrated gardens. I did not meet 



446 



Around the World in 188 '4. 



his son, Mr. Whampoa, jr.; but hurried down a broad 
avenue of matchless beauty, lined with stately palms and 
tall, feathery bamboos, whose extended branches interlaced 
overhead. The wild almond and heliotrope bloomed along 




AVENUE TO WHAMPOA'S GARDENS. 

the hedges ; shrubs and vines, whose beautiful flowers peeped 
out from their wealth of foliage, filled the air with strange 
and sweet perfumes. We saw sugar-cane and sweet po- 
tatoes growing to perfection. Never was there a scene 
more ravishing to the senses or beautiful to study in its va- 
ried charms. 

Arriving at the entrance to the grounds on the right of 
the avenue, we approached the residence, half obscured by 
dense tropical foliage. On either side of the walk from the 
gate were plants and flowers, and in the rear were the zoo- 
logical gardens. The residence itself was closed, in charge 
of a few Chinese servants. The bottom story was accessi- 
ble by many glass windows and doors, which admitted a full 



On the Indian Ocean. 447 

inspection of interior objects from the outside. During bis 
life Mr. Whampoa gathered many rare works of art and 
curious bronzes, lacquer, etc., from foreign countries. A 
marvelous piece of workmanship is an elaborately carved 
ball of ivory that is said to contain twenty-two others, cut 
out of one solid piece (Chinese or Japanese). The furni- 
ture, silver, and other ornaments we saw reminded me of an 
English rather than a Chinese home. But with all this 
culture and refinement, Mr. Whampoa was a heathen. " The 
subtle fumes of burning incense, mingling with the odors of 
spices and flowers, rose from the garden" before Dr. Hen- 
drix and Bishop Marvin. I was rather disappointed in the 
ornamentation, from the descriptions I had read in works of 
travel. Probably the garden is on the decline since Mr. 
Whampoa's death, and does not present such a striking 
perspective ; but it is yet really charming. The collection 
of its palms is one of its most lovely features. The fan palm 
is the glory of its species. Here it attains to gigantic pro- 
portions, each leaf being seven to eight feet in length. The 
stems of the leaves radiated from the trunk like an open 
fan. Sometimes you observe the natives sheltered from the 
heat of the sun under a single leaf by the road-side. But 
the crowning glory of these gardens, in my estimation, are 
the immense Victoria Regias, quite four feet in diameter, I 
saw growing in a pond, or lakelet, close by. The leaf 
spreads out on the surface of the water, round as a plate, 
with its edges turned up an inch or two, strikingly beauti- 
ful. In another place I saw the lotus, the sacred flower of 
the Buddhist, in bloom. It resembles the white pond-lilies 
I have often seen in Georgia. All kinds of plants and 
shrubs are growing in the open air, the black pepper vine, 
tea, spice, and coffee being among those cultivated. A 
green rose was one of Mr. Whampoa's specialities. Orange- 
trees, with a peculiarly variegated foliage, bloom and bear 



448 Around the World in I884. 

fruit the year round. The training of the shrubbery on 
wire frames to represent different objects, both animate and 
inanimate, Avas very curious. Animals and birds, as well as 
other representations, were evidences of the rare genius and 
love of art displayed in these gardens. I saw a dog in the 
attitude of barking furiously ; a deer with head erect as if 
he heard the dog. There were birds about to fly and others 
at rest, dogs, hogs, and a picture of an elephant trained out 
of a box plant ; a monkey was eating a cocoa-nut, and there 
was a fish ready to swim off. There were figures represent- 
ing a pagoda, a gharry with horses running away, ships 
with sail, and flower-vases as tall as my head. I thought 
the glass eyes somewhat marred the natural beauty of sev- 
eral objects. 

In Mr. Whampoa's zoological gardens there were curious 
black swans and ducks that interested me. One was a man- 
darin, or China duck. There was a queer, web-footed bird, 
with a long, slender bill, which I think is outside of any no- 
menclature; I had never seen it before. But the golden 
and silver pheasant just captivated my heart. A kangaroo, 
from Australia, that had two short legs in front and two 
long ones in the rear, hopped along on its tail, almost erect. 
When he is, hunted in Australia he jumps fifteen to twenty 
feet at a bound. Another pretty little animal, called a 
"mouse deer," not much larger than a rat, was running at 
full speed around its pen. The ibex, Borneo bear, monkeys, 
parrots and other birds, make up the exhibit. Mr. Whampoa 
was a mandarin. Whether this title was conferred on account 
of his wealth or his literary attainments, I am not informed 
— probably both. At the city zoological gardens was the 
emu, a tall bird resembling an ostrich, which is also a con- 
spicuous figure in this new collection. This is the bird our 
distinguished Georgian hunted on the African coast during 
the cruise of the "Alabama," at Saldanha Bay. I allude to 



On the Indian Ocean. 449 

Lieut. J. M. Kell, now retired on his farm, near Griffin, 
Ga. Kell got several shots, but no plumes. "The devil- 
ish birds, as big as horses and running twice as fast, refused 
to heave to when I fired shots across their bows." (" Serv- 
ice Afloat") 

The English have a fort and garrison in Singapore, which 
is also the official residence of the Governor. There are 
but few, if any, American residents here. The European 
population is composed of English and Germans. But it is 
evident, except the export trade, the business of Singapore 
is largely drifting into the hands of Chinese merchants. 
They own most of the vacant lots and real estate in the city. 
They begin to display their wealth in fine horses, swell turn- 
outs, with their coachmen and footmen in livery. This os- 
tentatious display, in contrast with their life at home, is 
somewhat striking, I am told. 

We see the Malay sitting patiently in his shop, cross- 
legged, waiting for a customer. He is a money broker as 
well as a cabman. The Malays own several mosques here, 
and a conversion to Christianity among them is a rare oc- 
currence. While the Chinese are the more active, money- 
getting people of Singapore, they have been compelled from 
some cause to adopt the Malay language in business. 

The luxuriance of tropical nature, with its vegetation and 
marvelous growth, strikes every traveler here with wonder 
and amazement. You see all the fruits as well as flowers 
along the road-side. The banana and even the pine-apple 
appear to be indigenous and growing wild. The hill-sides 
are covered with them, inside the city limits. Every bush 
or tree left a short time becomes a jungle covered with vines. 
The forest around Singapore presents one of the gi-andest 
sights in the world. Little rattans no larger than a walk- 
ing-cane wind themselves round and round the bodies of 
towering, gigantic trees, then, creeping along the branches 
29 



450 



Around the World in I884. 




FRUITS OF SINGAPORE. 



over interlacing limbs from tree to tree, are lost in a tangled 
wilderness. Sometimes a twiner ten inches in diameter 
encircles the tree as it ascends, runs out upon the limbs, 
drops to the ground its tendrils, which take root and doub- 
ling again upon themselves, and gathering tree after tree in 
their embrace, like Laocoon's serpents, writhe in their 
mighty struggles. In these impenetrable jungles, as dark 
as midnight, ferocious tigers, lions, and reptiles live. The 
birds of paradise, macaws, and parrots, with others of 
brilliant plumage, are found along the sea-coast. Here 
gutta-percha was first discovered, without which it is doubt- 
ful whether a submarine cable across the Atlantic could 
ever have been laid. 



From Singapore to Hong Kong. 451 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

From Singapore to Hong Kong. 

TT is seven days from Singapore to Hong Kong. "We 
-1 leave the equator now and sail up the north coast of 
China, rising higher and higher in latitude every day. We 
are sailing around on the curviture of the earth's surface, 
on the opposite side of the world from Georgia, in the China 
Sea. Our geographical position to the sun too has changed. 
We no longer see it rise in the east, as it has done for the 
past three months of our voyage; but it rises now in our 
west, over the mountains of Japan. When we reach Yoko- 
hama, forty-three degrees north of the equator, and begin 
to cross the Pacific Ocean toward San Francisco, it will rise 
again in the east. In making a voyage around the world 
we do not cross the equator, but in going to Australia we 
do. That island, or continent, is the antipodes of North 
America. When it is summer with us it is winter there. 
The line of latitude north and south of the equator regu- 
lates the climate. On the same latitude around the globe 
we find pretty much the same vegetation, productions, fruits, 
and flowers. When we reach Shanghai, thirty-two and 
one-half degrees north, on the same line as Augusta, Ga., I 
expect to find peaches, apples, plums, and cherries among 
the fruits, and corn, barley, cotton, wheat, oats, and rice 
cultivated. 

In a few days we passed almost in sight of Cochin China, 
of which Saigon is the political capital. The French are 
carrying on a war with China in Annam and Tonquin, in- 
volving territorial rights and the free navigation of the Red 
River by the former. The truth is, France is ambitious for 
the acquisition of more territory, and has raised the right 
of suzerainty to justify her belligerent attitude. She has 



452 Around the World in 1884. 

an evil eye on Burmah as well, adjoining her Cochin China 
possessions on the Bay of Bengal, or Indian Ocean. But 
that question will be contested by England, while China 
will resist her 'encroachment on her borders in the east. 
The French have utterly failed as colonizers. They seldom 
leave home. There are but few in the cities of Annam or 
Tonquin, I learn. The principal business is in the hands 
of the Chinese, except a few export houses at Saigon. While 
the main-land stretched away on our left, we were passing 
on the right a chain of beautiful islands that studded the 
China Sea. One of these was Pulo Condore, the most ex- 
treme point east the "Alabama" made during her cruise in 
the China Sea. The island is claimed by the French, whose 
Governor extended Captain Semmes a royal welcome. 
While here for several weeks, Kell overhauled the ship and 
\>\xt her in good sailing trim for her return voyage. The 
Governor sent the Captain a pig, and gave him carte blanche 
to his potato-patch. Kell and the boys had a jolly round of 
fun on the shore. He shot bison and small deer, and heard 
of immense serpents in the jungle. He killed a vampire 
that measured five feet six inches from tip to tip. These 
birds have been known to kill a man or a horse, sucking 
the life-blood out of them. They have sharp teeth like a 
wolf. There is a locust that screams like a locomotive- 
whistle, and a tree that grows short pieces of wood ex- 
actly the length and shape of a Havana cigar. "It is a per- 
fect representation, possessing even the proper color," re- 
marked Lieut. Kell. Monkeys traveled in troops through 
the woods, while parrots and other beautiful birds wheeled 
in great numbers over their heads. At night many sea- 
serpents were discovered crawling up the cables on deck of 
the "Alabama." The sailors had stopped up the holes, one 
of them having seen the snakes before. Eyery day the 
apes and monkeys gathered along the shore, manifesting in- 



From Singapore to Hong Kong. 453 

tense curiosity, looking at the ship. Captain Semmes says 
they grinned and chattered like a lot of old niggers one 
sees along the African coast. One day the midshipman shot 
an old gentleman. He threw up his hands and screamed, 
then placing them over the wound mourned plaintively. 
The officer remarked he felt awfully sorry. " It was like 
killing his old uncle on his father's plantation." Captain 
Semmes went ashore to get a sight for his chronometers, and 
found the monkeys burying the dead. " The deceased must 
have been popular, judging by the large attendance at the 
funeral," observes the Captain. 

Ever since I heard a gorilla was setting a railroad switch 
down in South Africa, I have taken more than usual in- 
terest in these "lampoons on human nature." Captain 
Semmes observes further that a party of apes, old men and 
women, with their gangs of children, came strolling along 
the beach every morning, arranging themselves in rows, and 
sometimes looked at his ship for an hour. The young folks 
walked about the beach in twos and threes, making love. 
The children romped around the old people, screaming and 
barking in very delight. If a boat approached the shore, 
the parents would give a whistle, and off the youngsters 
would scamper up the trees. 

On the fifth day we were getting well on toward Hong 
Kong. A number of our English passengers had departed 
at Singapore. A particularly charming face and striking 
figure had been missed at the evening promenades on deck. 
Our largely increased Chinese passenger list, numbering 
fully three hundred, had been engaged in cooking, eating, 
smoking, and gambling the entire voyage. Each group 
spread down a mat, and sat around in a circle, throwing dice 
all day. They usually played for a cash, one-tenth of a 
cent, and sometimes a dinner. They cooked their dinners 
on little coal-stoves, two or more messing together. The 



454 



Around the World in 188 Jf. 



rice was boiled dry and eaten with bits of pork, chicken, 
and vegetables. Instead of knives and forks, they used 
chop-sticks. These were sometimes bamboos, or little sticks 
about one foot long, made smaller at one end. They held 
these between the first and second fingers, the lower one 




CHOP-STICKS. 



resting against the thumb. With these they can pick up a 
grain of rice or a vegetable, poke up the fire, or "knock the 
puppy off as well." When they eat rice they raise the 
bowls to their mouths, and with these chop-sticks just shuf- 
fle it in. The rice takes the place of bread. They are 
fond of stewed chicken and duck, with the bones taken out 



From Singapore to Hong Kong. 455 

and cut up into small bits. They have a variety of vegeta- 
bles, cooked with little pieces of fat pork, etc., which they 
pick up, one little piece at a time, and eat. They seem to en- 
joy their meals, and after each have a smoke. It would amuse 
you to see them clean and cook a chicken. The lesson incul- 
cated in this one habit solves the individual and national 
prosperity of this remarkable people. It is economy. The 
fowl is picked and the feathers saved for pillows and bed.-?. 
The head, tongue, toes, and legs go into the soup-pan in 
small bits. The entrails are carefully prepared for chitter- 
lings, while the fowl is cooked as I have observed. That 
little dog, may be, will take his turn in the kitchen by 
and by. 

One-third of these people smoke opium. The exports of 
this accursed drug from India amount to forty million dol- 
lars per annum probably. Nearly all this is sold in the 
free port of Hong Kong by the English. Its sale is forced 
on the Chinese against the earnest protestations of their 
Government. But the Government is powerless to prevent 
it. Shame on Christian England ! It was first introduced 
into China by the East India Company, one hundred years 
ago, and brought on the war of 1840, called the " Opium 
War." The result of this struggle was the acquisition of 
Hong Kong by the English. The slave trade was merciful 
compared to this act of England, forcing opium on the 
Chinese. Listen to what a heathen emperor said to a Chris- 
tian queen: "I cannot prevent the flowing poison, but noth- 
ing will induce me to derive an income from the vice and 
misery of my people." Mr. Martin, late Treasurer to her 
Majesty's Government at Hong Kong, in a noble outburst 
of indignation, declared : " The records of wickedness since 
the world was created furnish no parallel to the wholesale 
murders which the British nation have been, and still are, 
hourly committing in China." Can you imagine any thin? 



456 



Around the World in 188J f . 



more horrible? Even a drunken man may reform; but 
an opium-smoker, once addicted to the habit, must die in 
five or six years. 




OPIUM-SMOKERS. 



I saw two of these poor wretches secreted under a little 
tent they had improvised for the occasion the second day 
after leaving Singapore. They don't like to be looked at. 
They were very sly, and did not enjo}'- my occasional glances. 
I bought one of the pipes to examine it. It was about 
eighteen inches long, with a clay bowl on top. The stem 
was bamboo. Generally two smoke together, always re- 
clining, taking the pipe between them by turns. The crude 
opium, brought direct from Calcutta, is prepared for use at 
Hong Kong. They take a little globule the size of a pea, 
hold it over a lighted lamp, then work it in the little bowl, 
holding it over the flame again until it blazes. They then in- 
sert it in the pipe, drawing the smoke down to their lungs and 
letting it escape through their noses. Five or six whiffs, and 
the little ball is gone. One smoker fills the pipe again and 



From Singapore to Hong Kong. 457 

hands it to his companion. Pretty soon both men begin to 
giggle, grin, laugh, and grow funny. In a few minutes they 
are off to the happy land. But O the horrible sensations that 
succeed the waking! It must be a hell with torments un- 
utterable. Soon after the habit is contracted the victim 
grows haggard and lean; his cheek-bones protrude and his 
eyes sink in their sockets. Very few survive longer than 
five years. The habit itself is quite expensive, costing fully 
one dollar per day. 

Marriages are contracted at an early age in China, by the 
parents, as in India. They differ in modes and customs. 
There is no caste or zenana life in China ; but the isolation 
of women after marriage in a Chinese home almost amounts 
to the prison life of India. 

The Chinese bury their dead according to the custom cf 
Christian nations. The ceremonials attending the obsequies 
are full of curious interest. A rich Chinaman had died 
before I reached Singapore, and had been buried in great 
pomp a few miles out of that city. An English passenger 
who attended the funeral gives me a most interesting ac- 
count of this event : 

The grave was dug in the shape of a horseshoe, huts 
erected and temporary accommodations improvised for 
the funeral. The body of the deceased was placed in a 
highly decorated funeral-car, borne in great pomp on the 
shoulders of men. There were one hundred and twenty- 
eight pall-bearers who followed the body five miles in 
the country to the new-made grave. The decorations of 
the car were on the most magnificent scale. The display of 
flowers was gorgeous, while diamonds and jewels glittered 
and vied in brilliancy with the rich ornamentations of the 
canopy overhead. The casket was lowered over the grave, 
when the ceremonies began. "Women in sackcloth appeared, 
prostrating themselves on the ground with bitter lamenta- 



458 Around the World in 188 4. 

tions. Men bowed three times. The tom-tom- struck up its 
bedlam of sounds ; fire-crackers were thrown in the air, and 
exploded in every direction. The priest made burnt-offer- 
ings, and the day ended in a festive celebration. The palm 
houses and teuts around displayed a wealth of viands, fruits, 
etc., for invited guests and friends of the deceased. There were 
samshu and bhang* for the Chinese, and plenty of beer and 
whisky for the English to drink. When the festivities 
were ended the body was adjusted in the grave by a square 
and compass, and the head of the dead man was laid to the 
east. The grave was finished up with cement, and dirt 
drawn over it. The cost of this funeral was about three 
thousand dollars. 

One of the most amusing incidents of the voyage was to 
hear the Chinese speaking "pigeon English" — that is, bus- 
iness English. When our language is not learned at school 
the Chinese find it impossible to acquire it afterward. So 
they have constructed out of different words, taken from 
two or three nations — such as English, Portuguese, and 
Spanish — a language of their own, which is simply the 
Chinese spoken language rendered into English, according 
to the Chinese idiom. When they fail on an English word 
they put in Spanish, French, or Portuguese. It is one of 
the most remarkable acquirements ever made by any nation. 
The following illustrations give you some idea of its con- 
struction: "My no save," I do not know. "No belong my 
pigeon," none of my business. "Mosqui" (Portuguese), 
never mind. Then the short words — " Chop, chop," quick, 
quick; "top side," means upstairs, and "bottom side" down- 
stairs. " How fashion ? " what like? A very funny inquiry 
relates to their children : " Have you see one piece of child?" 
Have you seen my child? "If you havee, makee walkee 

* Samshu is a liquor made in China from rice, and bhang is dis- 
tilled from hemp. 



From Singapore to Hong Kong. 459 

long this Avay ; we too muchee bear ye whilo, so long a time 
to stay." , 

As we approached Hong Kong we saw bold rocks rising 
out of the sea, shooting up like cathedral spires ; Chinese 
junks with square topsails, and other quaint-looking craft, 
upon which the numerous families were living, flit by us 
under swelling canvas. Every bow had eyes painted on 
either side, while the junks rose very high out of the water 
in front and rear. Behind were a gate and ponderous rud- 
der, and overhead was matting for an awning, under which 
probably many of these children were born. As we rounded 
a bold headland, under a great mountain peak of rock, our 
ship boomed its little cannon as a signal for Hong Kong. 
Presently a myriad of twinkling lights flashed from the 
bungalows on the terraced slopes of a lofty mountain, re- 
sembling the star-lit dome of heaven. We anchored in the 
spacious harbor, which, like the eity, seemed ablaze with 
lanterns hanging from the masts of ships that represented 
almost every nation. It was a picture of striking beauty, 
never to be forgotten. As the sampans, with their eager 
occupants, crowded around the " Hydaspes " to welcome some 
long-absent husband or son, who was now returning from 
Penang and Singapore with accumulated riches, I thought 
I saw the loving mother who embraced her son, the wife 
her husband, and the anxious, timid maiden awaiting her 
long-expected beau. What happiness, what enthusiastic- 
joy would welcome these people at their homes! Wherever 
I turned my eyes the harbor presented a scene of moving life 
and bustle. The sampans were so numerous I imagined I 
could almost walk ashore upon them. 

Early the following morning, in May, we moved up to 
our magnificent wharf, fronting the beautiful city of Hong 
Kong. We should have two days here, which would en- 
able us to see Canton, about eighty miles distant. 



460 Around the World in 188 Jf. 

The island upon which Hong Kong is located is ten miles 
long and five broad. It was formerly inhabited by thieves 
called ladrones. The English population of the city is 
two thousand five hundred, while the Chinese exceed one 
hundred and fifty thousand in number. The city is built 
upon a slope of a lofty mountain, extending down to the sea. 
Several of the streets are built up with excellent houses, 
some two and three stories high, of brick — solid blocks, that 
resemble a European city, which a part«#a reality is, as 
far as its architectural structure is concerned. Even the 
Chinese had rivaled the English in building their houses 
during a great speculation in real estate here, some years 
ago, that came near bankrupting Chinese and all. Lots 
and houses rose to fabulous prices when Hong Kong got on 
her boom, and the shrinkage came on in time to explode the 
air-castles and bubbles that had been floated on paper. This 
feature of its eventful history was so American-like I had 
no further doubts about the influence our modern civiliza- 
tion was exerting upon the Celestials. 

The approaches to Hong Kong from the sea are among 
the most picturesque and beautiful of any city in the world. 
The business portion lies along the Bund a mile or less ; 
while the Europeans live in pretty bungalows, surrounded 
by lovely gardens, on terraced drives and walks above. 
These romantic homes are reached by splendid hard roads, 
winding around up the mountain, and long flights of stone 
steps, by which we are enabled to ascend one thousand feet 
or more. The view of the harbor and shipping below was 
grand beyond description. On the opposite side rose the 
red chalk bluffs of the main-land, that stretched away toward 
Macao, thirty miles distant. Above me, still seven hundred 
feet higher, floated the British flag over a battery of artil- 
lery that could rake the harbor and approaches to the 
mouth of the Canton River. The harbor resembled a mir- 



From Singapore to Hong Kong. 461 

ror, studded with great ships from every land and sea. 
The Chinese junks and sampans, with easy-flapping sails, 
were moving leisurely over the harbor. Boats were leaving 
for Canton, eighty miles distant, while great steam-ships — 
floating palaces — were arriving or departing for Shanghai, 
Yokohama, London, San Francisco, New York, and Liver- 
pool. More than two thousand vessels leave the harbor 
every year. Hong Kong is the great distributing center for 
the mails as w£L as the commerce of the Orient. Regular 
lines of mail-carriers leave here every month for Europe, 
Australia, Manilla, Japan, and San Francisco. The enter- 
prise of the Western World is mostly felt here in its commer- 
cial marine. The great Peninsular and Oriental line, that 
girdles half its circuit, touches here twice a month ; while the 
French Messageries, another great company, under charter of 
the French Government, ply between Marseilles and Yoko- 
hama, touching at Hong Kong, en route to Saigon, Singapore, 
Batavia, Ceylon, and Indian ports, both ways, with their 
magnificent ships. These two great rival lines then carry the 
mails for their respective Governments, connecting at all the 
China ports with steamers of the Pacific (United States) Mail 
Steam-ship Company for San Francisco. A letter started at 
Talbotton, Ga., will go around the world without missing a 
connection. The harbor is land-locked, which to a great 
extent protects it against the typhoons of the China Sea. 
But a few years ago thousands of sampans, with their occu- 
pants, and even larger vessels, were blown on the shore. 
There was great destruction of life and property resulting 
from this storm. 

Hong Kong is at the upper end, as Singapore is situated 
at the lower or southern end of the China Sea. Since 
our departure from the latter city we have risen twenty de- 
grees north of the equator. Still it is extremely hot in Hong 
Kong. In all the European offices, banks, etc., the punka 



462 Around the World in 1S84- 



is going, and was even kept in motion on the "Hydaspes" 
during our recent voyage. Here the thermometer registers 
ninety degrees in the shade and one hundred degrees in the 
sun. In front of our wharf stand the jinrikishas in great 
numbers. When you approach them the men square around 
their little carriages and throw up their hands like the cab- 
men. For ten cents you can have your pick to any part 
of the city. The sampans charge the same price in the har- 
bor. On shore there are only five miles of driving, which 
can be easily done in an hour. The well-developed, muscu- 
lar coolie, sometimes six feet tall, lifts his heels and trots 
like a horse. A drive to Happy Valley Cemetery (English 
burial-grounds) is one of the most beautiful in the world. 
The avenue is macadamized and smooth as a marble floor. 
The jinrikisha coolie wears a loin-cloth and a bamboo hat, 
with feet sometimes bare and at other times protected by 
cloth shoes. As soon as you take, your seat he is gone. He 
does not scare or run away, and does not even shy, like the 
horses do. When he comes to a crossing he looks behind 
to see if the wheels are on securely. He works tandem or 
alone, and it does not matter where you want to stop, or 
how long — he obeys your command. The dog-carts, drawn 
by horses, and the sedan-chairs (palanquins of India), borne 
on men's shoulders, have nearly disappeared from the streets 
in competition with the jinrikishas. 

I find a new fruit among others. It is the lychee. It is 
larger than the plum, with a reddish rough skin. It is deli- 
cately flavored, having a clear stone. When dried the fruit 
is said to rival figs. The mandarin, seedless or glove orange, 
and Japan plum (biwa) are abund mt and very cheap. 

I watched a Chinaman fishing on the quay. He was the 
very embodiment of patience. He had a broad, baggy net, 
which hung from four corners of a bamboo frame resembling 
a quilting-frame. This he let down in the water by four 



From Singapore to Hong Kong. 463 

cords, fronj each corner, tied on the end of a pole. He 
threw crumbs of bread over the submerged net, and after 
awhile drew it up very carefully with its contents. There 
were many small fish in it. 

The Bund is the great thoroughfare, running along the 
water. From this grand boulevard radiate smaller streets, 
running back a short distance to the foot of the mountain. 
Along these you can study the Chinese manufactures. Bam- 
boo is used for every thing in China, like the palm is used 
in Ceylon. From it they make their chairs, beds, baskets, 
fans, lounges, and other useful articles. The English have 
several large sugar-refineries here, while the natives along 
the Bund are engaged in milling rough rice. These little 
mills are a curiosity. I was cordially received in one by 
the manager, who handed me a cup of tea. Tea is kept hot 
on tap all the time. It is furnished the mill hands free, 
without milk or sugar. In the mill I examined there were 
a dozen or more pestles in motion. There was an iron mor- 
tar to each pestle that held about a bushel of rough rice. 
The pestle was of stone, inserted at right angles in the end 
of a long lever that worked in a bearing about midway, the 
lever extending back several feet. It was so nearly bal- 
anced that all the coolie had to do was to throw the weight 
of his body first on one foot and then on the other, to keep 
the pestle in motion. After an hour's pounding the rice was 
fanned by hand, separating the chaff from the grain, then 
pounded again, the flour being separated by a screen and 
the rice polished by hand, with the chaff. This was done 
by mixing the pounded rice with the chaff in a bamboo 
sieve, which was shaken by hand. It is sold at one to three 
cents per pound, and is the staple article of food for the 
millions of China. 

The women and men dress so nearly alike m Hong Kong 
that I mistook two good-looking girls on board of our ship 



464 



Around the World in I8S4. 







CHIN-CHIN. 

for boys. They were all dressed in loose coats and baggy 
trousers. The men wore cues, which was their most distin- 
guishing mark; while the women combed back their jet 
black hair in solid waves, their features betraying more del- 
icacy of expression. They are fond of primping and paint- 
ing their cheeks red. Some of the girls affect great mod- 
esty. I heard they made excellent wives, according to the 
testimony of an old Englishman, who had married one of 
them. He told me he had a number of children, " and a 
more devoted wife or mother he had never seen." I pre- 
sumed the veteran Englishman was a widower when his last 
nuptials were celebrated. 



Some Account of China. 465 

Some of the Chinese are very sociable people. When you 
meet one he " chin-chins " good wishes to you. He shakes 
his own fists at you instead of your hand. The first ques- 
tion asked is, "How old are you?" This is the highest 
mark of respect one Chinaman ever pays another, as a rev- 
erence for age is shown by all classes. In return it is eti- 
quette for you to inquire his age. This seems to be the 
custom particularly among the official and literary classes 
of China. I suppose, of course, the ladies are excluded from 
the observance of these formalities. I know it would not 
be etiquette to make such inquiries in Georgia. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

Some Account of China — Chronological, Historical, 
and Geographical. 

CHINA proper is divided into eighteen provinces, eight 
of which lie south of the great Yang-tse-kiang River. 
It has a coast-line stretching from Cochin China to Japan 
and Corea, nearly three thousand miles. It is about fifteen 
hundred to two thousand miles broad. The entire domain 
— including Corea, Manchuria on the north-east, Turkis- 
tan aud Thibet on the west, and Mongolia in the north- 
west — is a third larger or nearly twice as great as the 
United States. It now has four hundred and twenty mill- 
ion inhabitants, or nearly one-third of the population of 
the Avhole world. 

The Chinese call themselves Chung Kwah, or natives of 
the Middle Kingdom. They boast of the greatest and most 
civilized empire on earth. "It is hoary with age." It is 
antiquity itself. China has been the source of all light, the 
center of civilization, refinement, culture, the arts, litera- 
ture, and science, for thousands of years. Her emperors 
30 



466 Around the World in I8S4. 

claimed a divine origin, and a right to rule from the re- 
motest ages. The country was in a high state of civiliza- 
tion when Europe was in darkness, even before the civiliza- 
tion of Greece and Rome flourished along the shores of the 
Mediterranean. They claim an unbroken record for three 
thousand years, and one of their historians goes back of the 
flood. Whang-ti reigned 2758 B.C., or four hundred and 
ten years antecedent to this event, according to Usher. 
Another historian, Meng-tse, gives a full account of the 
flood — describing the country fresh as a desert, the lowlands 
covered with water and the hills with trees. The great 
Yau ditched off the land, cleared the forest, and tied up his 
hair for a bath. Now all the coolies do theirs up the same 
way in a coil behind. The deluge, as calculated by Usher, 
was fifty years earlier than this overflowing of Northern 
China. 

While much of this antique history of the Chinese reads 
like fiction, their records seem much more trustworthy than 
the early annals of Greece, remarks a late writer. 

The Great Yu seems to have been the De Lesseps of his 
times. He reigned 2205 B.C., and did what his predeces- 
sor, Yau, could not do — he drained the lowlands and kept 
out the floods. Seventeen hundred years later Confucius 
eulogizes this great sovereign. A monument that relates 
to the above notable events has been found in the Province 
of Shensi, with inscriptions cut in solid stone, supposed to 
be as old as the Pyramids of Egypt or the Obelisk of Heli- 
opolis. During the reign of Yu, Abraham was called, and 
Joseph's elevation to the throne of Egypt occurred. This 
reign lasted four hundred and thirty -nine years ; the Shang 
dynasty, succeeding 1766 B.C., afterward lasted six hun- 
dred and forty-four years. Then the exodus of the Israel- 
ites, their settlement in Palestine, judgeship of Gideon, Sam- 
uel, and Samson, and other contemporaneous events, took 



Some Account of China, 467 

place. The Chau dynasty began with Wu Wang and con- 
tinued eight hundred and seventy-three years under thirty 
nionarchs, down to 249 B.C. — the longest of any record in 
history. It appears that before this period the Chinese suf- 
fered the loss of a valuable library that contained books of 
ancient history, with the loss of'many lives of the literati, by 
order of the Tsin dynasty. This monarch seemed jealous 
of the scholars' devotion to these ancient books rather than 
paying all their homage to the history of his reign. Some 
books not in the library, that related to medicine, divina- 
tion, husbandry, etc., escaped in private hands. These were 
reproduced in new works, and history was perpetuated. 
This great conflagration of ancient literature took place 
212 B.C. From Tsin comes the word "chin," or "sin." 
At this time Isaiah, looking with prophetic vision to the 
coming of the Messiah, wrote this sentence: "Behold, these 
shall come from far ; and, lo, these from the north and from 
the west; and these from the land of Sinim [China]." 
(Isa. xlix. 12.) It seems that the true record of China gges 
back nearly to the time of Abraham. 

China was cultivating letters, love of art and science, at 
this time, while the Egyptians were worshiping crocodiles, 
birds, reptiles, and insects. The Greeks knew of the Chi- 
nese 250 B.C., as Strabo informs us. At that remote period 
cotton was planted in China, which Strabo said was at the 
eastern end of the world. It was so located on the map of 
Eratosthenes. This beautiful quatrain is from the works of 
this Greek scholar, translated by Dionysius : 

Nor flocks nor herds the distant seres* tend; 

But from the flowers that in the desert bloom, 
Tinctured with every varying hue, they cull 

The glossy down, and card it for the loom. 

China furnished the Roman ladies silk for their robes 
* Seres is the Greek word for worms which produced silk. 



468 Around the World in 188 4. 

when Kome was at the height of its power. This was car- 
ried by caravans over the steppes of Tartary and the vast 
regions of Central Asia, observes Mr. Coffin. There was 
but little communication from the first century down to the 
year 1624, two hundred and sixty years ago. 

The Dutch settled on Formosa and acquainted the Euro- 
peans with the use of tea. In 1666 Holland obtained per- 
mission to trade at Canton, Ningpo, and other ports; but 
the Chinese officials Avere so haughty and exacting it was 
with difficulty that intercourse was kept up. The East 
India Company opened up trade for England, which com- 
menced in 1637. In 1795 the English Government sent 
Lord Macartney as an embassador to negotiate a treaty of 
commerce, with the privilege to establish a depot near Can- 
ton; but the Chinese indignantly refused the "red-bristled 
barbarian tribute-bearer," as Lord Macartney was styled in 
the published official records. It was the custom to offer 
tribute to the Chinese Government, which they considered 
due them for the privileges of trading with them. Trade 
between the United States and Canton commenced in 1786; 
but it is only within the past forty years, since the Opium 
War, ports have been opened, treaties made and diplomatic 
relations established' by foreign countries with China. As 
late as 1815 Lord Amherst was sent by Her Majesty's Gov- 
ernment to negotiate a treaty of commerce with the Govern- 
ment at Pekin. After months of weary sea-travel by sail 
and a fatiguing journey overland, he was forced to return 
from his fruitless errand. The failure of this mission re- 
sulted from a refusal of the English embassador to observe 
the court ceremonials, consisting of prostrations and bows. 
Lord Amherst assured the Pekin authorities he w:ould pay 
the same homage to the Emperor as he did to his Queen ; 
but this was not satisfactory. It was claimed that the Em- 
peror had a divine origin. 



Some Account of China. 469 

China had built high Avails around her cities, excluded 
from the whole world for three thousand } r ears. She de- 
nied all intercourse with other nations, growing self-conceit- 
ed and arrogant over a venerated history no other people 
could boast. She cultivated cotton, silk, and tea; her por- 
celain was unrivaled, while the fabrics of her antique 
looms had startled all the courts of Europe. China had 
rich mines of coal, iron, tin, copper, and even gold, unde- 
veloped — and undeveloped still. 

Marco Polo, the first European who had ever visited the 
far East, had become a favorite with the court at Pekin 
early in the thirteenth century. Returning overland to 
Europe, he carried back the account of his visit to the 
country, its beauty, its immense wealth, treasures of the 
field and the loom. All Europe became elated over the 
marvelous stories of the eminent traveler. Century after 
century rolled by, but China still refused to open her doors. 
In 1840 the British lion began to lash his tail; no doubt 
the English Government had become worried over repeated 
efforts she had made for friendly intercourse, but as often 
refused. At last she grew indignant over some alleged 
provocation offered by China, and sent several of her big 
bull-dogs around to Canton, Shanghai, Amoy, Suchow, and 
Tientsin to do a little barking. English men-of-war opposite 
every town! "What you got in hearet" thundered John 
Bull. " None of your business," replied the man of " divine 
origin." Boom, boom, boom! "Thunder and lightning! 
the barbarians are at our very doors!" exclaimed Johnny. 
"What do you want here?" More cannonading. The 
doors are opened ; John Bull steps in with papers from Her 
Majesty's Government. "Your ports must be opened, com- 
mercial relations established, and embassadors exchanged. 
We want your tea, silks, porcelain, and other manufactured 
goods. You must take our opium, cottons, hardware, and 



470 Around the World in 188 '4. 

admit our missions and the Lord's Bible ; we will sell you 
our ships, guns, powder, build your telegraphs and railroads, 
if you want us. We are to be good friends in the future." 
But China proved to be one of the most unreconciled con- 
verts. In 1856 the allied fleet went out again, and cannons 
boomed along China's extended sea-coast. Once more her 
ports opened. Nearly or quite every city along her sea- 
board now trades with foreign nations. Probably there is 
no section, except in Thibet, where a foreign missionary can- 
not travel with comparative safety. 

Nature has kindly cast the Chinese nation in a gentle, 
pacific mold. They have had their wars, but compared. 
Avith the Western nations these wars have been few. The 
Taeping rebellion of our day had its origin in the brigandage 
of an idle and leprous soldiery, who sought to live at the 
expense of the honest producer. But the pressure of the 
outside world is forcing China to establish arsenals; to 
build ships and guns for sea; schools to translate boohs of 
foreign languages into her various dialects. Through this 
new medium her people will be enabled to study our history, 
the civilization, literature, science, and philosophy of the 
Western World. She employs the best European and 
American scholars to translate her books, and skillful in- 
structors of Germany and England to drill her soldiery. 
In the struggle now going on, France has met .a worthier 
foe in Tonquin than she ever dreamed of. The Western 
nations are teaching China how to fight. A nation of arti- 
sans, manufacturers, and shop-keepers of- wonderful thrift 
and industry must now become a nation of soldiers as well. 



From Hong Kong to Canton. 471 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

From Hong Kong to Canton — Boat Life and Sight- 
seeing in Canton. 

WE wanted to see an essentially characteristic Chinese 
city, and we could not have selected a better repre- 
sentative than Canton. It is eighty miles, up a strong 
current, by two magnificent lines of steam-boats that run 
in opposition to each other. The fare had been reduced as 
low as one dollar, but we paid three dollars each way. Sir 
John and I were the only first-class passengers, while below, 
on the first deck, there were seven hundred Chinese, many 
of whom were the elite of society. They paid thirty cents 
each for the same passage. Our boat was a magnificent 
side-wheeler, two or three decks high, purely American in 
every feature, even to the officers who commanded it. The 
mouth of the Canton River, not far from Hong Kong, re- 
sembled an arm of the sea. There were many junks and 
boats dotting the vast expanse before us; while over to our 
left, some distance away, gleamed Macao, which for pictur- 
esquenesa and beauty of situation surpasses even the city 
of Hong Kong. In the summer it becomes a kind of sani- 
tarium for the Europeans of the latter city. Macao was 
among the earliest European settlements in China, made by 
the Portuguese (to whom it still belongs) more than three 
hundred years ago. Like Hong Kong for smuggling 
opium, Macao has occupied as unenviable a position for its 
long years of revolting traffic in human flesh. Horrible 
stories are related of the " coolie trade" which the Portuguese, 
aided by Chinamen, have carried on as defiantly of law. 
The chief source of supply is from the numerous gam- 
bling-hells in China, where the Chinese, having lost every 
thing else, stake their bodies for a small sum of money 
advanced them by the gamblers. The gamblers then sell 



472 Around the World in I8S4. 

them for twenty or thirty dollars to the barracoon, or dealer, 
who doubles his money. I have seen these coolies myself, 
in Cuba, brought from this very port ; while others go on 
the Pacific coast to Peru, delivered there at a cost of two 
hundred dollars apiece. 

Entering the saloon for breakfast, we discovered the front 
of the boat converted into an armory. There were pistols, 
swords, arms, and guns of various descriptions. I learned 
this precaution against attack had been taken in conse- 
quence of a robbery of thirty thousand dollars in specie, 
some time ago, by a lot of Chinese pirates who had taken 
passage on a boat up the river. The money was never re- 
covered. 

Our breakfast was verily charming. Such fruits, such 
viands, such delicious ham and eggs, butter, coffee, and 
biscuit, smothered chicken, broiled fish, steak, and even 
wafHes, bewildered us. The lychees, oranges, and bananas 
were all familiar; but here were hot biscuits and waffles, 
with Goshen butter, we had been dreaming about. Purely 
American ! Even sugar-drips sirup, to float the buckwheats 
in. The American boat had introduced some of the modes 
of thought and habits of living into this remote empire. 
Even the Chinaman had been taught the subtle art of our 
cooking. 

I felt an honorable pride in directing the attention of 
my companion to those waffles. He appeared a little curi- 
ous to know what they were, as the waffle is essentially 
an American institution. His high appreciation of this 
American civilizer gave me renewed assurauces of his in- 
creasing good opinion of our country. 

Fifty miles up the river we pass under the frowning guns 
of the celebrated Bogue Forts that were destroyed by the ' 
allied European navies in 1856. The batteries command 
the river, from lofty heights, on cur right, which the Chi- . 



y#fr- 



A XTEVT AMONG THE HILLS NEAR MACAO, CHINA. 



From Hong Kong to Canton. .473 

nese are now repairing in anticipation of bombardment by 
French gun-boats. The river is a mile or more wide at 
this point. A battery near the water's edge, five hun- 
dred feet below the frowning battlements, is practicing with 
shells. One has fallen a mile below and ricochetted a great 
distance without explosion. A few days ago these amateur 
gunners accidentally threw a shell into a neighboring vil- 
lage, killing many of the inhabitants. 

We pass through Lintin Bay, curving into the Pearl 
River at Whampoa, which is really the port of Canton. A 
number of foreign vessels, European and American, are 
here loading with tea. Thus far the rich alluvial plains 
along the river have been cultivated in rice, which has been 
transplanted from beds into rows and flooded, much like it 
is done in Carolina and Georgia. We have seen lychee 
and orange trees growing as we approach Canton. Among 
these were peach-trees in bloom. 

A tall eight-story stone pagoda towered away on our 
left, near the Bogue Forts, in melancholy grandeur. There 
were lichens, and even bushes, growing out of the interstices, 
near its ancient summit. These old monuments, or temples 
are going into decay. We have passed many salt junks, 
with flaming dragons painted on their sides and eyes on 
their bows, loaded or empty. 

Salt (as in India) is a Government monopoly in China. 
It is imported from Tonquin, and inspected by the man- 
darins, who get a good squeeze at it, much like the whisky 
inspectors do the revenues in America. It seems like all 
the vegetables cultivated in Georgia are to be seen in the 
market-gardens near Canton. The Chinese are skillful in 
artificial fish culture, hatching eggs in ovens, rearing ducks 
on the river-banks and lakes, of which, they have had a 
knowledge for thousands of years. They construct little 
lakes or ponds along the great streams, turn the water in, 



474 Around the World in 188 '4. 

and raise carp. These, with other varieties, are shipped to 
Hong Kong alive, in large tanks of water, which we saw 
empty on the "Hankow" coming up. Among the Chi- 
nese, eels are highly valued for their delicious flavor, and, 
like the carp, are extensively cultivated for market. The 
carp must have originally gone from here to Europe, and 
thence to the United States. There is no doubt about the 
gold-fish (a species of carp) having been first exported from 
China. 

Before our aristocratic passengers disembarked we passed 
around on a grand review. Many of them were on dress- 
parade. Several of the girls, with their tiny feet peeping 
out below silk robes, appeared very much embarrassed at 
our approach. I thought I saw blushes hiding in their 
cheeks. The men were smoking or talking, sprawled about 
on mats they had spread upon the floor. A number were 
throwing dice, playing cards, chess, etc. The ladies sat 
around in small tete-a-tete groups on divans, observing the 
most formal etiquette and decorum. Many of their faces 
resembled the pictures I had seen on fans. In the center of 
the large audience stood a dignified man, with ominous glass- 
es on, as for size, reading for their entertainment from one 
of the Chinese classics. It related to the history and won- 
derful achievements of the Government in the past, I was 
told. His audience appeared to be absorbed in the various 
pastimes, paying the strictest attention to their games rather 
than the lecturer, who was himself about as boisterous as a 
French Deputy or United States Congressman. "A striking 
figure I must not fail to mention was the man with a 
cap on and long finger-nails on his third and fourth fin- 
gers. He must be an eccentric genius ; but then we have 
seen such characters in our own country — people wearing 
long finger-nails and long hair. It is a mere matter of 
taste, I suppose. 



From Hong Kong to Canton. 



475 




CHINESE ECCENTRICITIES. 



Ill the distance we discover another pagoda and a few 
square towers rising out of a wilderness of tile roofs that 
present an almost solid surface.* It is the great city of 
Canton. Some distance in the rear are the White Cloud 



* These square-top stone or brick fire-proof warehouses are to be 
seen in all the large cities of China. They are the pawn-brokers' 
shops. Here rent is paid on valuable articles of clothing, jewelry, 
money, etc., deposited, or even money advanced on the article held 
in pawn until it is redeemed by the depositor or owner. The fre- 
quency of fires and consequent loss of valuables in all wooden towns 
and cities have necessitated the erection of pawn-brokers' shops. The 
business is a very lucrative one, in which the owners generally amass 
great fortunes. 



476 Around the World in 1881. 

Mountains, that must have their sacred history and tradi- 
tional lore identified with some thrilling events. We pass 
a little island with a small battery on it, and before us is 
one of the strangest sights in all the world — a hundred 
thousand people living in boats! We pass up the center of 
miles and miles of boats — sampans. They are tied up or 
anchored, or moving about on errands, loaded with their 
living freight. In each boat you see a little awning over- 
head — bamboo matting — a little cabin at one end, and the 
kitchen, with its tiny stove or brazier, at the other. Every 
boat is crowded with children. There does n't seem to be any 
sour old maids or crabbed bachelors in this flotilla, nurs- 
ing perpetual solitude or their own pettish, cranky ways to 
idolatry. Everybody is busy here raising children, ambi- 
tious that their names shall descend perpetually to the latest 
generations yet unborn. If a baby falls overboard — and 
there are thousands of them ("prettiest tings ever was") — 
the anxious mother rushes to the bow to find her tenth 
bantling with life-preserver on floating about in the water. 
"The baby has fallen out the portico! run, sis, and bring 
the hook er my crook here." This is a long pole with a catcher, 
or hook, on the end of it. She reaches out, fastens hold of 
the little brat, and he is elevated in a minute. It is discov- 
ered that nothing got wet except the life-preserver. That 
was all the clothes he had on. The Chinaman raises his pig- 
eons, hens, and even ducks, on his boat. You see the coops 
setting on the ample decks. - You hear the chanticleer crow 
amid stream. The hens lay and cackle like other hens, 
raising their little broods on the floating barn-yard. The 
ducks can't stay aboard all the time — they must go out to 
swim; but at night every duck comes home. Then there 
are boats set apart specially for raising ducks after they 
have been hatched by the ovens. The master or mistress 
soon learns the proper quack by which the ducklings are 



From. Hone/ Kong to Canton. All 

controlled. They, too, are permitted to swim occasionally 
through the day until they are ready for market. At night 
the hindmost duck always gets a drubbing for his tardiness 
in getting on board. One thousand birds may be tended by 
one man and raised in this way. The women and older 
children generally row the boats in the Pearl River. The 
men go ashore ; but the children are born on the boats, and 
often their mothers have never been on land. Land is dear 




DUCK BOAT. 

and life is cheap. Those unable to rent a garden sometimes 
construct little floating islands or rafts, made of bamboo, and 
cover them over with soil, upon which they grow their veg- 
etables. If a boat gets upset, the first impulse is to save its 
contents, and then the occupants afterward. What a study 
is this boat life of Canton ! No other city in this vast em- 
pire presents such a striking feature in contrast to its pop- 
ulation on shore. We have gone miles through scenes de- 
scribed and at last reach our wharf, where the river is 
comparatively narrow. What a dense mass of yellow faces 



478 Around the World in 1884. 

are upturned ! At this wharf last year our boat was com- 
pelled to back out in mid-stream to escape being burned by 
an infuriated mob. Some difficulty arose between an Irish 
and Chinese employe of the " Hankow," which resulted in the 
Celestial being tossed overboard. Nearly all the European 
houses in the cantonment, or rear of the city, were pillaged 
or burned, some of the occupants having barely escaped 
with their lives ; for which the Chinese Government was 
afterward forced to pay a round indemnity. There is pos- 
sibly not fifty foreigners in Canton, including custom-house 
officers (Americans) and agents of large export firms. 

We had scarcely landed before the Chinese guide had 
taken possession of us. One time, I must confess, a China- 
man was graciously welcomed. We had just encountered 
two women drummers from the Canton House, we had luck- 
ily seen coming up the river, who importuned us to stop at 
the finest hotel in the city. The women had trousers on, 
and we were afraid of them. The streets were densely 
packed, jammed solid ; we could not move. Our guide was 
positive we would never see any thing unless we employed 
chairs (palanquins) to ride in, one each for ourselves and 
one for him. The whole arrangement looked like it had 
been " cut and dried." The men were ready, waiting for 
us. It required three to lift me. I think one of my men 
had the bellows. He blowed like a porpoise before he had 
gone a quarter of a mile. The streets seemed not more than 
ten feet wide, and the houses, built of very small brick, rose 
two to three stories high. There was a man at every door, 
women and children above, balcony after balcony rising to 
the very summits in front of every opening. Paper win- 
dows and turning doors, sign-boards hanging perpendicu- 
larly in the center of the streets, painted in gold, vermilion, 
and yellow characters ; banners streaming from cords run- 
ning overhead ; and clothes hanging out on top of the houses; 



From Hong Kong to Canton. 



479 



with a million of noisy people below jammed in the little 
streets and workshops — some with broad-brimmed hats and 
caps, others none at all ; some dressed in blue blouses, baggy 
pantaloons, cloth shoes turned up at the end, and silk robes ; 
and a half million of cooliea dressed in pig-tails and loin- 
cloths, will give you a faint idea of how Canton looks to a 
stranger. How the stranger looks to Canton is another 
thing. 

Our guide would say, " Hi, yi," then the people would 
look around and open the solid ranks so our coolies could 
trot along. I noticed iron bars and grates in front of many 




2T- 



*ses-^ '£.,\i\)T<s--~ 



HOW WE RIDE IN CANTON. 



doors, and the rooms had high ceilings, sometimes frescoed 
or beautifully painted. Some of the shops were resplendent 
with grotesque paintings, umbrellas, fans, balloons, and toys 
innumerable. There were many fine crockery-houses, where 
we inspected different styles of porcelain and painted ware. 
The porcelain is made at the works in the country, brought 
to Canton and painted. The entire city is engaged in man- 



480 Around the World in 188 '4. 

ufacturing. There are tens of thousands of little shops in 
which you will see from one to a half dozen men at work 
in the different specialties of the trade. The shops, often 
of wood and of the meanest descriptions, turn out the most 
exquisite works of art. Here you will see the Chinese, en- 
gaged in the plainest and most intricate workmanship ; work 
in silk, feathers, gold, silver, brass, ivory, metals, glass, em- 
broidery, painting, carving, weaving, knitting, spinning— all 
by hand. Here were silk fans, with ivory handles, worth 
seventy dollars each, exquisitely painted for the nobility. 
Then there were fans at a half to a cent each. I saw a man 
embroidering peafowl, pheasant, and paroquet feathers into 
the most tasteful and elaborate designs. There were fire- 
screens worth fabulous sums. Most lovely panels were 
deftly needle-worked and painted for drawing-rooms; silk 
rugs, curtains, handkerchiefs, cloths in beautiful colors for 
dresses, scarfs, etc., manufactured on the most ridiculous and 
antique looms. I saw men carving — in bone, camphor and 
other beautiful woods — different objects, representing ani- 
mals, birds, sampans, chairs, and various pretty things. 
Here the opium and several kinds of pipes are made, and 
elegant silks woven that adorn the palaces of Europe. 
Here fire-crackers, gongs, and the comic fans for the Unit- 
ed States trade are manufactured. From Canton nearly 
all our China, porcelain, and much of the tea, is exported. 
Bamboo is used for almost every thing. It is largely culti- 
vated in China. The camphor-tree, from which our gum is 
obtained, is one of the most valuable of woods manufactured. 
Let us see something else now. As we pass through the 
crowded streets we hear the hucksters crying, with open 
mouths, their fruits and wares on their heads or suspended 
at each end of a bamboo pole — reminding one of old Aunt 
Sukie (colored lady) in Charleston and Savannah: "Here 
is your fresh oysters ! oys-ters ! " 



From Hong Kong to Canton. 



481 




OYS-TERS. 



Some carry trays on their heads, full of onions, lettuce, 
melons, and cabbages. We see little stalls with tubs of live 
eels and fish for sale; dried and fresh fish; live rats and 
cats; chickens, ducks, turkeys, eggs, mutton, shrimps, chit- 
terlings, livers and gizzards of different things (I never stop 
to ask questions in Canton), and things I never saw before. 
For variety the Chinese market can't be excelled. Fish 
are taken out of tanks alive and sold as you buy chickens- — 
or, if preferred, the merchant dresses the fish to order, sav- 
ing the head and entrails, with cockerel's combs, for his 
poorer customers. 

Here comes a fellow with a couple of live pigs, kicking and 
squealing, hanging at each end of a bamboo pole. "Stop! 
31 



482 



Around the World in 188 h. 



come here!" says our guide. We advanced as cautiously as 
possible, for we smelt something — in fact, we had smelt 
something ever since we reached Canton. But the odor of 
"Araby the blest" was of a different species — different from 
any thing we had snuffed. It was so savory ! Well, it was 
a dog — a barbecued animal, with head, body, feet, and even 
toes, unmistakable! He was roasted as brown as a Berk- 
shire hog. I tried a hundred times to imagine what he 
smelt like. I first began on roast pig, chicken, turkey, 
lamb, and old horse. I am sorry I remembered that. I have 
a dreadful horror of once having eaten a piece of "old 
horse" in Paris. I could think of nothing. The discrep- 
ancy grew so great, I finally concluded he smelt like a bar- 
becued dog. 




HERE WE COME! 



You see gamblers, fortune-tellers, mountebanks, just as 
you do in Christian countries. Old China street is a famous 
place for astrologers, and quack doctors too. People poke 
their heads out of the doors, and the street-urchins run after 
the " foreign devils," as we are called ; our hats, shoes and 



Chinese Gods and Religions. 483 

costumes are as strange to them as theirs are to us ; we are 
a strange people to each other. They call us " Western 
barbarians," and we call them heathens. 

The Presbyterian, Catholic, Wesleyan, and London mis- 
sionary societies are all at work in Canton. The Catholics 
have been here several hundred years, and at one time 
came near getting possession of the Government; but in- 
trigue in politics was the final cause of their expulsion. 
They now number many times double more converts than 
all the Christian denominations at work in the empire. 
The Catholic priests dress like the Chinese, wearing the cue 
as well. I could scarcely discriminate between them, they 
looked so much alike. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

Temple of the Five Hundred Sages — Execution 
Grounds — Examination Hall, etc. 

ALL the religions of the Chinese may be comprehended 
in three systems: Buddhist, Confucian, and Tauist. 
The Tauist religion is the oldest, and is the court religion 
of the 'empire. Buddhism is the strongest in China, form- 
ing the basis of the system embraced by one-third of the 
human race. Confucianism, or reverence to parents, has 
assumed the form of ancestral worship. 

The Buddhist monks or priests live in the temples, hav- 
ing a building adjoining to cook in, another to sleep in, 
eat in, etc. 

The philosopher Tau was born just before Buddha, 600 
B.C. He was a Chinaman, like Confucius, and wrote a 
remarkable work on "Truth and Virtue." In this book, 
giving a description of the creation, he advocates the the- 
ory of an Almighty Ruler, a great First Cause, evolved in 
the creation of the universe by several gradations. " He 



484 Around the World in 1SS4. 

taught that thousands of years before the creation there was 
an unembodied living principle existing in vacant space." 
After the creation of man, he dropped like a ball from heav- 
en into the open mouth of a virgin, who was asleep. Eighty- 
years after that, he was born with the white hairs of old 
age, and was named the "Old Boy." This is the deity- 
woi'ship called Tau. Here are some pretty lines dedicated 
to this god, by an old king of the Sung dynasty, about one 
thousand years ago : 

Great and most excellent Tau, 

Not created, self-existent ; 

From eternities to eternities, 

Antecedent to the earth and heaven, 

Like all-pervading light 

Continuing through eternity; 

Who gave instruction to Confucius in the east, 

Who called into existence Buddha in the west; 

Director of all kings ; 

Parent of all sages; 

Originator of all religions; 

Mystery of mysteries. 

Many of the Tauist and Buddhist gods seem related — for 
instance, the medicine and thunder gods, to whom prayers 
are offered. One of the Tauist gods is the national em- 
blem on the flag of China, the dragon. He rules the clouds, 
lakes, oceans, and storms. 

As we shall directly carry you into the temple of the 
"Five Hundred Sages," I present illustrations of the trans- 
migration or transformation theories of the Buddhist re- 
ligion and a mild picture of a Buddhist hell. 
■ Here is a picture representing future life, showing the 
transmigration of souls : "A boy is changed to a dog ; one 
man has horns growing from his forehead, his feet and 
hands are changing to hoofs, a tail coming behind — he is 
changing into a bull; a third, to an ass — head and ears 



Chinese Gods and Religions. 



485 



already on." This last "transmogrification" is not at all 
uncommon, perhaps. 




' TRANSMIGRATION/ 



But the Buddhist idea of hell is truly horrible. The sin- 
ner is supposed to be cast head foremost into a sort of grist- 
mill, and ground to pieces — being mocked the while by two 
demons who manage the execution. 

In the " Temple of the Five Hundred Sages," the most 
notable in Canton, there are life-size gilded figures repre- 
senting the disciples of Buddha. Before each figure is an 
incense-burner, where offerings are made daily. 

Another temple near our boat-wharf was profusely deco- 
rated with bunting and gilded paper lanterns in honor of 
the Tai-tou's visit to Canton. The columns supporting the 
roof of the temple were elaborately carved with dragons in 
every conceivable design. Across the river was another 
celebrated temple, the Ocean Banner, which we did not see. 



486 



Around the World in 188 Jf. 



This is on the island of Hainan. The Examination Hall 
and Execution Grounds are probably the two most interest- 
ing sights to a foreigner. 

Near the city wall is the Examination Hall, a building 
capable of accommodating ten thousand students. They do 
not come here for study, as they do at the American col- 
leges, but for examination. On their arrival, each pupil is 
assigned to a stall four by six, with a little window for 
light, a table to write on, a stool, bedding, etc. He carries 
his provisions in with him, but no books. He is locked up 
for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, as the case may be. 
Subjects are taken from the four books of the ancient clas- 




WE DO OUR WORK THOROUGHLY. 



sics to write upon. Three essays and one poem are to be 
composed. "When the subjects are once given out by the 
commissioners all hands go to work. There are no books, 
no keys, no cheating allowed in this trial. It is pure head- 
work. A jury of literary men examine the various produc- 
tions. If they pass, a red mark of approval is made after each 
essay has been copied, to show no partiality. Those who 



Literary Honors. 487 



pass the first jury go up to the second; all others are re- 
jected. This is the second degree the student is contending 
for now. He has taken his first of "Beautiful Ability," 
instead of Bachelor of Arts, at his district college. Un- 
less he takes the first, he cannot go up to the Canton or 
Provincial Hall. One hundred out of ten thousand now 
pass. Here are the A.M.'s, or Advanced Men. The 
session is over; the victorious are highly honored; ovations 
and high honors await them ; cannons boom, fiddles, drums, 
flageolets, gongs, cymbals are attuned to the sweetest music, 
bonfires and lanterns are lighted, and the procession of their 
friends forms to celebrate this eventful occasion. The news 
flashes to every part of the empire, for each district is 
ambitious to excel and win its share of honors. "The 
success of the student is equivalent to an election." These 
examinations are the stepping-stones to political honors 
and civil office. To be a mandarin and viceroy, you must 
first be a literary graduate. There is no party service, in- 
fluence of friends, money, or whisky tolerated in this sys- 
tem; merit and qualification must invariably be the test 
for office. We have mentioned the first degree, B. A., and 
the second degree, A.M. — the first obtained at the district, 
the second at the provincial college. There is still a 
third, for all students who have passed the A.M., at Pekin ; 
if successful here, they receive the degree of " Doctor of 
Laws," which entitles them to occupy the highest official 
positions. Those who fail are allowed to try every three 
years. Many grow old in these efforts, and die at last with- 
out success. Some have studied for fifty years, and failed. 
To all competitors of this character the Government is very 
generous, giving them an allowance from the imperial 
treasury, to enable them to study at Pekin. 

This has been the system in China for nearly two thou- 
sand years. Students preparing for the test examinations 



488 Around the World in IS84. 

become familiar with the literature and history of their 
country. Besides this advantage, the system is purely dem- 
ocratic, giving every student equal advantages. 

The Chinese are a very literary people. Their classics, 
fiction, stories, histories, and works on dramatic art are to 
be found at the numerous book-stalls or shops in every 
city. They are a reading people, and hold their literature 
in the highest esteem. Printing-offices are as numerous as 
the bookstores — shops where men sit at tables handling 
blocks on which characters are engraved. The Chinese 
claim an unbroken record of history back three thousand 
years — as old as Moses. Their chief text-books of Confu- 
cian classics are about as ancient as the prophecy of Isaiah, 
observes an intelligent writer. 

They have magistrate courts in China, in which petty 
cases of crime are tried ; but the Emperor has power over 
life and death, without trial, I believe. Many of the poor 
Avretches condemned to death are brought here to the Exe- 
cution Grounds. The criminals, sometimes a dozen in a line, 
lay their heads along on blocks, waiting for the ax-man ; 
presently he begins the decapitation, severing each head 
from the body at a single stroke, moving the basket along 
to catch the heads as they fall For trivial offenses, the 
officers tie the culprits' "pig-tails" together, which is re- 
garded as an eternal disgrace. On one occasion I witnessed 
a scene of this kind myself. 

Bankruptcy is almost unknown in China. They are 
afraid to break here. It is too uncomfortable. When " a 
native dealer fails to pay his creditors, they all assemble 
at his house, fortified with their pipes and a goodly store 
of rice and tea, and there they sit, calmly smoking, sip- 
ping, and eating till the money is paid. If, however, the 
defaulter be a European, they post a police agent at his 
door, and fasten on it a huge sheet of paper, on which 



Drugs and Doctors. 



489 



each creditor writes the amount owing to him." It is said 
the wealthiest banker in the world lives here in Canton — 
richer than the Kothschilds— worth $1,400,000,000. His 
"ame is Aan Qua. 




INTIMATE RELATIONS. 



You ought to see a drug-store in China — you would 
never get sick again. The druggist is the doctor, and 
pulls teeth as well (there are dentists to fill them). From 
a peck to a half-bushel of old stubs may be seen in front 
of almost any shop in Canton. I heard they pull teeth 
with their fingers — I never saw it done. The law is very 
stringent about license to practice medicine, I know. 
Every physician is required to hang out his sign-board for 
inspection, with the name of every patient who has died 
under his treatment written on it. One day a European 
arriving was taken suddenlv ill, so I read, and sent his 



490 Around the World in 1884. 

"varlet" out for a doctor. "Go in haste; but be careful 
to find the board with the fewest names on it." After 
walking himself nearly to death, he was rewarded. Looking 
up, he saw a sign with just one name. After the medicine 
was administered, the thoughtful patient congratulated the 
doctor upon his eminent success. " How is that? " says 
Esculapius. " Why, in your practice, I hear you have had 
only one death." " Yes, that 's so." " How long, doctor, 
have you been practicing?" inquired the eager patient. 
"Well, yes; I commenced yesterday." A doctor is paid 
here for keeping a man well. I have no doubt the peo- 
ple live in dreadful horror of the Chinese materia medica. 
They have four hundred and forty-two medicines, either 
one of which, it seems to me, ought to kill a " pig-tail " 
at long range. I have secured a partial list by accident. 
I find such curious items as " dried redrspotted lizard, silk- 
worm moth, parasite of mulberry-tree, ass's glue, tops of 
hartshorn and bird's-nest, black and white lead, stalac- 
tite, asbestos, tortoise shells, human milk, glue from stag's 
horns and bones, ferns," all recommended as tonics ; burned 
straw, oyster shells, gold and silver leaf, iron filings, and the 
bones and tusks of dragons, are stated to be astringent. 
The so-called dragon's bones, by the way, are the fossil re- 
mains of the megatherium and other extinct animals which 
are found in various places, and which our own Anglo- 
Saxon ancestors esteemed so highly for medicinal purpos- 
es. Indeed, any one acquainted with the leechdoms of our 
own forefathers might suppose, in glancing over these Chi- 
nese prescriptions, that he was reading the medical lore 
of Britain until the eighteenth century. There is the iden- 
tical use of ingredients, selected, apparently, solely on ac- 
count of their loathsomeness. 

There are certain diseases which the physicians declare 
to be incurable save by a decoction of which the principal 



Fashionable Dinings. 491 

ingredient is warm human flesh cut from the arm or thigh 
of a living son or daughter of the patient! To supply this 
piec'e of 'flesh is (naturally) esteemed one of the noblest acts 
of filial devotion; and there are numerous instances on rec- 
ord in quite recent years in which this generous offer has 
been made to save the life of a parent, and even of a mother- 
in-lav). • 

A case which was held up for special commendation in 
The Official Gazette of Pekin, in 1870, was that of a young 
girl who had actually tried herself to cut the flesh from 
her thigh to save the life of her mother; but finding her 
courage fail, she had cut oft* two joints of her finger and 
dropped the flesh into the medicine, which happily proved 
equally efficacious; " for," says The Official Gazette, " this act 
of filial piety of course had its reward in the immediate 
recovery of the mother." This case called forth " bound- 
less laudations " from the Governor-general of the Province 
of Kiang-si, who begged that the Emperor would bestow 
"some exemplary reward on the child, such as the creation 
of a great triumphal arch of carved stone, to commemorate 
the act." 

Leaving Canton, we moved slowly down the river. We 
observe that famous hostelry, the Canton House, sitting 
upon four bamboo posts, something like a chicken-coop. 
The name, emblazoned in the gable, was the biggest thing 
I saw. A number of "Chinese men-of-war," about as 
large as a good schooner, with a number of small cannon 
grinning, I learned, were to protect the salt trade, and pre- 
vent the smuggling of opium, etc., which is sometimes 
thrown overboard down the river and floated ashore. 

A Chinaman rarely ever entertains at home. This dis- 
penses with an immense deal of worry about his house. He 
invites his friends on the "flower boat," Avhich you see 
floating on the Canton River, where dinners are served for 



492 



Around the World in 1884- 



the purpose. As a general rule, the Chinaman's house is not 
constructed with drawing-rooms, etc., like ours. The pro- 
prietor of the boat furnishes every thing — flowers and gor- 
geous lanterns, fluttering flags and a band of music. The 
band consists of three girls with painted cheeks and lips, per- 
form-hers on the banjo, guitar, and cymbals. These play 
while the guests are dining. 




FLOWER BOAT. 

The Chinaman believes we foreigners come over here to 
eat, because we do n't have enough to eat at home. They 
must regard us as very fastidious, when we refuse to dine 
on their bird's-nest soup,* or even shark's fins. A China- 
man's stomach is his source of intellectual life. "The 
fattest man goes for the wisest one." Most Chinamen eat 
at hotels, except those with families, who live at home. 



* Bird's-nests are obtained on the rocky cliffs of Borneo and Suma- 
tra. A man suspends himself by a rope to secure them. They bring 
several dollars apiece here, as the gelatine is used for making soup. 



Sailing vp the Northern Coast. 493 

They usually eat on getting up in the morning, and then 
at three to four o'clock in the afternoon. The wealthier 
class eat three or four times a day. A father will sometimes 
dine by himself, to enjoy an extra dish of meat, while the 
children must be content with rice. The poor folks (and 
there are millions of them) buy their meals from the street 
drummers. Only the very poorest eat rats, cats, and dogs ; 
the better classes never. A cook gets his diploma and de- 
grees in cooking as he does in science. " The Celestials use 
no table-cloths, napkins, knives, forks, spoon, dishes, plates, 
or glassware. Instead of napkins, they use packages of thin, 
soft paper, which also serve them for handkerchiefs. After 
using, they throw them away. Each guest has a saucer, a 
pair of sticks, a package of paper, and a minute cup, with 
salt-saucer. The Chinese women never dine with the men. 
Everybody smokes during the eating of a formal dinner, and 
the dinner is crowned by a story or legend narrated by some 
more or less known orator. No topic of general interest is 
discussed at such dinners, but a gastronomist who knows all 
about the preparing of food receives attention." 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Keturning from Canton — Amusements of the Chi- 
nese — Up the Coast to Shanghai. 

DON'T imagine that the Chinese have no amusements. 
They have many of the vices, as well as the virtues, of 
Christian nations. They fight chickens, gamble, go to the 
circus and theaters, drink samshu and some whisky; but 
they have a perfect horror of a drunken man. They point 
to their superiority over foreigners in morality as well as in 
temperance. But they will fight the mud and snapping 
turtles in mortal combat. These turtles are trained for the 
business, and show wonderful vitality even after the tail, 



494 Around the World in 188Jf. 

foot, or head has been nearly bitten off. They will continue 
to bite just as if nothing had happened. Raw meat and a 
drug known in Texas as "loco" are fed to the combatants. 
Sometimes a fight lasts for ten hours. One of the most ter- 
rible conflicts occurs between a species of wildcat (much 
like the American) and a bull-terrier. If the dog can 
catch the cat by the nose he wins. If the cat falls on his 
back, which he will do if he can, the dog loses. The Chi- 
nese use sharpened spurs, pointed steel, file the teeth of the 
animals, and resort to every artifice to win. The Foochow 
cocks bring seventy dollars each, and some of them boast 
of as long pedigrees as a blooded horse in America. You 
would be amused to see them fight two rats in a battle, or a 
rat fighting his deadly enemies, the cat and the dog. A 
Chinese quail is the gamest bird that " ever fluttered." It 
will fight for hours, and drop from sheer exhaustion. These 
amusements are going on in Canton and other large cities, 
and can always be located by a profuse display of bunt- 
ing. About two to five cents is the admission price. 

On our return to Hong I£ong the " Hydaspes" was getting 
up steam for Shanghai, five days sail up the northern coast 
and nine hundred and twenty miles distant. 

We did not have any particular desh*e to see the Amer- 
ican Consul here — Col. Mosby, the ex-Confederate chieftain 
who betrayed the confidence of his people in the darkest 
hours of his country's peril. I hear it stated that the Colo- 
nel does not intend to return to Virginia. Well, Virginia 
will not grieve over parting with her disloyal sons. 

Hurrying to the Peninsular and Oriental office to have 
my ticket extended, we were soon most comfortably settled 
down on the " Hydaspes," Which had become a home to me. 
I found the company's agents here and at Calcutta the 
most obliging gentlemen, whom it was a pleasure to meet. 
Like other passengers, I have received at the hands of these 



Sailing up the Northern Coast. 495 

officials many considerations of kindness I shall not soon 
forget. 

We leave Hong Kong on the 24th of May, steaming 
slowly eastward, out among a group of islands, and then 
turning north occasionally sight the coast and cities along 
it on our stretch to Shanghai. In one hundred and eighty 
miles we pass the city of Swatow, one of the ports opened 
by the treaty of Tientsin in 1858. It is also the ship- 
ping port for Foo-choo-foo, a city a short distance inland. 
There is a lofty range of mountains I see a little south, 
stretching away toward the west, that must be a coast range. 
The river Han, making down from these mountains, flows 
through an extended plain devoted to the cultivation of 
sugar-cane. This crop is made up into sweets, of which the 
Chinese are very fond, and shipped to distant markets of 
the empire. We pass in sight of a bold headland, jutting 
down the sea like the.Cape of Good Hope, observing fishing- 
smacks and tiny boats. These are white, those at Hong 
Kong green, and I learn the boats at Shanghai will have 
square bows and red gunwales. "You can tell each city 
by the color of its boats." Some of the islands we pass in 
the bay are terraced from the water to their very summits. 
Swatow is the sea-port for Kwang-tung and Fukien. They 
are poor districts, with dense populations, hard for mission- 
ary work, hard to live in, and hard for the Government to 
manage. The mandarins sometimes find it difficult to 
quell the mobs that rise against their authority. From 
this port the people have emigrated to California in large 
numbers. 

One hundred and fifty miles north of Swatow is the 
city of Amoy, the most ancient port in China. "A thou- 
sand years ago junks were seen from Amoy in the Persian 
Gulf. The Portuguese were here in 1544, and much ear- 
lier than this — in the thirteenth century, when Marco 



496 Around the World in 188 4. 

Polo first came out from Europe. In those days it was a 
great port. It was captured by the English in the Opium 
War of 1841, and thrown open as a treaty port under the 
treaty of Nankin. Many of the richest men in China were 
merchants .here once. The mountains are bare of forest, 
which detracts from their picturesqueness." 

We have passed Formosa, of which Kelung is the capi- 
tal city, far to our right. A part of the island is opposite 
Amoy, and is noted for its extensive coal-beds, camphor- 
gum, camphor-wood, etc. The French fleet have bombard- 
ed Kelung with several men-of-war, which are in posses- 
sion now. 

We knew when we got opposite Foochow by the immense 
number of fishing-boats, which probably numbered a thou- 
sand, extending as far out as our ship, fifteen miles from 
shore. The Chinese fish with cormorants. You see these 
large birds sitting on the edge of the boats looking down 
in the water for fish. Presently one dives, brings up a large 
fish, but cannot swallow it. Its master has a ring around 
its neck that prevents such a contingency. 

This large city is situated thirty miles inland on the river 
Min, and is about one hundred and eighty miles distant 
from Amoy. It is the greatest city between Hong Kong 
and Shanghai. Nearly one hundred million pounds of 
black teas were shipped from here during the past twelve 
months, at least half of which went to England. Here the 
oolong, flowery pekoe, orange pekoe, and congou are culti- 
vated. I learn the difference in these teas lies more in the 
manufacture than in the plant. A large number of English 
and American missionaries, with quite a population of Eu- 
ropeans, numbering several hundred probably, reside here. 
Foochow is spelled several ways. Some call it Fuh-chau 
(Foochow), while the Chinese call it Fuchau, and the people 
themselves pronounce it Hak-chieu. I am indebted for 



Sailing iq) the Northern Coast. 497 

much of this information to Mr. Coffin. The population 
must be nearly eight hundred thousand. The climate is 
mild, frost rarely ever falling here. But in 1864 two inches 
of snow fell — first in forty years. " The Province of Fukicn, 
of 'which. Foochow is the metropolis, is about as large as the 
six New England States," observes Mr. Coffin. Here mill- 
ions of bamboo (the same genus as our cane in Georgia, 
but a larger species) are cultivated, and exported on junks 
built expressly for its transportation-. It is very light, and 
you can't overload a junk with bamboo. I have seen them 
piled as high as a hay-rick in New England, under a cloud 
of pressing canvas. Returning from Shanghai, they bring 
back a cargo of rice, beans, etc., from the valley of the great 
Yang-tee. But now we behold rocks rising out of the sea — 
little islands of rocks — and a distinct line, running as far as 
our eyes can reach, marks the clear waters of the China 
Sea and the flow of the muddy Yang-tse. This is China's 
Mississippi, that flows down from the mountains of Thibet 
through the plains of the central provinces, bringing with 
its resistless power, through thousands of miles of territory, 
a muddy sediment, which it here empties into a broad est- 
uary of the sea. We see coming out ahead of us ships of 
every nation — some French, Russian, American, but the 
largest number British steamers — sending up their great 
clouds of smoke or spreading their snowy sails for a long 
stretch homeward. One has turned up the coast to Japan. 
All these vessels have come down the Wusung River from 
Shanghai, about thirty miles distant from the confluence of 
the great Yang-tse with the Wusung River. We pass under 
the guns of the village of Wusung, on a pretty green bank 
at its confluence, where the French have established a na- 
val depot. In 1841 the English tore the mud fort here to 
pieces. Across the country to Shanghai is only about twelve 
miles, but by the river thirty, or may be less. It was on this 
32 



498 Around the World in IS84. 

short cut, between the mouth of the river at Wusung and 
the city of Shanghai the railroad ran a few years ago, but 
which the Chinese Government purchased, tore up, and 
moved away. I will give you the reason why this was done 
before I leave Shanghai. 

We change from our steamer to a small tug, because our 
ship must wait for the tide. The river-banks are very low 
up to the great city. We see peach-trees in bloom ; fields of 
cotton now six inches, high; acres of beans, sugar-cane — 
sorghum? yes, sorghum; fields of rice growing in the wa- 
ter; wheat and barley being taken off and then plowed, 
flooded, and fields of more rice being planted. You see the 
Chinese with their blue blouses on, broad-brimmed palmet- 
to hats, bare legs, with their wives and children, setting out 
rice-plants. Some are pulling them up out of the green 
beds, others dropping them in bunches, about like we drop 
potato-slips in Georgia ; while the whole family are formed 
in line, with a bunch of plants in each left-hand, setting out 
two and three plants from left to right, then next, next, 
and next member of the family catching up the refrain un- 
til a row is set out as far as they can reach. If five in fam- 
ily they will set a line twelve to fifteen feet, then drop back, 
plant another line, stepping backward all the time. The 
plants are set about six inches apart each way, and when 
they finish a line by the eye it is as straight as an -arrow. 
Wonderful people! We see the gardener coming out of his 
bamboo hut, covered Avith matting, to Avork his SAveet and 
Irish potato patches, his cabbages and caulifloAvers. The 
banks of the river are bordered Avith rushes and reeds. A 
fisherman, with his great baggy net, noAV and then appears, 
while the stream swarms Avith sampans, junks, and boats of 
every description, crowded with their families of children. 
At last the landscape is broken by smoke ascending from 
tall chimneys in the distance; the night comes on, and 



Sailing up the Northern Coast. 



499 



through a wilderness of shipping and sampans we reach the 
shore. It is Shanghai. 

Let them fight awhile. We have seen these battles before. 




LANDING AT SHANGHAI. 

It is a fight all the way round, from the time you land id 
Naples, Alexandria, Joppa, to these distant shores. It is a 
part of every traveler's experience. We expect it, and are 
disappointed if there is not a skirmish over our baggage. 
We walked down a broad, beautiful avenue, under a blaze 
of electric lights, to the Astor House. Block after block 
of stately buildings in brick, faced with stone, towered away 
many stories high, in majestic grandeur. 

This new city, with its mysteries of electricity and mar- 
vels of architecture, belonged to another civilization — the 
civilization of the Western World. Here the Bund is the 
beautiful avenue of the Champs des Elysees, and the Astor 
House the Grand Hotel of Paris. But it is in the American 
quarter of the European part of Shanghai we find the Astor 
House. 



500 Around the World in 1884. 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

In the City of Shanghai. 

OUR visit to Shanghai had been anticipated with real 
pleasure. Here we should meet our distinguished Geor- 
gian and beloved missionary, Dr. Young J. Allen, whom I had 
already apprised of our approach to the shores of China. 
Early the following morning, we heard a gentle tap at our 
door. We knew it was our friend, who had come to welcome 
us and conduct us to his hospitable home. The ever-present 
jinrikisha wheeled us away up the Bund and back a few 
blocks down a street between two walls to Dr. Allen's resi- 
dence. Across the street dividing the residence lots from the 
Anglo-Chinese College grounds rose the magnificent new col- 
lege building. A separate chapter, devoted to the educa- 
tional and missionary work, will embrace some account of 
this grand institution, whose recent successful inauguration 
marks a new epoch in the mission work of China. We had 
brought good tidings from Oxford, Georgia; to the distant 
home in Shanghai. For several years Mrs. Allen had been 
absent in her native land, educating her children. Edgar, 
the eldest son, would soon graduate with distinction, and 
all eyes were turned toward him as a worthy successor to 
his illustrious father. Arthur was a most promising lad, 
following closely upon the steps of his brother. He was to 
pursue his education at Oxford, while Edgar, after grad- 
uation, would perfect himself in other branches at Balti- 
more. Mrs. Allen and the smaller children were to return 
to Shanghai the succeeding fall. 

At tiffin (one o'clock) Dr. Allen introduced me to Miss 
Anna Muse, his daughter Miss Millie, and the Rev. George 
R. Loehr, who are teachers in the Anglo-Chinese College. 
Miss Muse, of Atlanta, Ga., and Mr. Loehr, a graduate of 



In the City of Shanghai. 501 

Oxford, had only arrived in China two or three years ago. 
Their progress in acquiring the Chinese language had been 
remarkable. Miss Allen had enjoyed the finest educational 
advantages at Staunton, Va., Italy and Germany in Europe, 
and was herself an accomplished Chinese scholar. Dr. Al- 
len, on account of valuable literary services rendered the 
Government in the translation department at the Arsenal, 
in this city, had been honored with the title of Mandarin. 
These pleasant associations were to crowd my days full of 
interest and pleasure in Shanghai. The young ladies in- 
formed me the first thing to be done on reaching China was 
to " name me over.'" They all had foreign names. Dr. Hen- 
drix informs us his Chinese name was Hang, which sounded 
a little bad in English ; but it meant constancy, or perse- 
verance, in Chinese. I begged them not to name me. I 
had rather be called "Yung Kwatsa," or Foreign Devil, 
ten days than to be hung any time. 

The first impressions of Shanghai ever made on my mind 
was when I was a boy. The tall, gawky fowls known as 
Shanghai were stumbling over every block in my father's 
yard. Shanghai pullets and three-story roosters were the 
rage in those days. I have often remarked they brought 
with them the Asiatic cholera to our barn-yards. We 
needed no bells or horns to wake up the drowsy Sambo, for 
these lofty cockerels rang up every village and plantation in 
the land. 

The foreign settlements or concessions here are outside 
the walled city, consisting of the American, English, and 
French cantonments. These different cities, altogether em- 
bracing a European population of five thousand or more, 
are subdivided by creeks as boundary lines. I believe one 
or more of them live under the same municipal govern- 
ment. They have water-works, and are lighted up by elec- 
tricity. The streets are macadamized and sprinkled by 



502 Around the World in I884. 

roller hose in the same way as in Paris. The houses on the 
Bund, or Broad street, fronting the water and shipping, are 
magnificent. Here are the great importing and export 
houses of the Japan and China Trading Company, Russell 
& Co., Jardiniere & Co., and many other wealthy English, 
American, and French firms. 

Thousands of Chinese have " caught on " to the new city, 
built up elegant club-houses, shops and stores, residences 
of brick and wood, with pretty grass yards and flowers, pre- 
senting a picture in striking contrast to the narrow streets 
and squalid abodes of "the walled or old city." The 
aggregate population of both cities is about half a mill- 
ion. On account of its geographical position Shanghai 
has naturally become the commercial metropolis of the 
empire. 

Suchow, the political capital of the Province of Kiang-si, 
seventy or eighty miles distant, boasts of one million souls, 
while the province contains a population of thirty millions 
or more. The Suchow creek enters the Wusung in front 
of the Astor House, forming the boundary line between the 
English and American quarters. Up this creek we can go 
to Suchow, then by the Imperial Canal to the Yang-tse, on 
to the city of Pekin. It is a journey of seven to ten days 
by American steamers, running twelve to fifteen miles an 
hour. On the way we would be enabled to visit Nankin, 
once the southern capital of China, under the Ming dynas- 
ty until the fifteenth century. Then the present Tartar 
government, or Manchu dynasty, came into power and 
moved the capital to Pekin. The Taeping rebellion, which 
lasted nearly twenty years, destroyed twenty-five millions 
of people. The war commenced on the borders of Burmah, 
spread to Canton, rolled down the Yang-tse to Shanghai, and 
the Yellow River to Pekin. This war ended about 1864. 
After leaving Nankin, one hundred and ninety-four miles 



In the City of Shanghai. 503 

vest of Shanghai, we could proceed up the mighty river to 
Hankow, the great tea-market, where the steamers receive 
their cargoes from junks, coming down from Poyang Lake 
like a covey of ducks. Hankow is about six hundred miles 
from Shanghai; but steamers can ascend the Yang-tse still 
live hundred miles farther, and small craft to the very base 
of the Himalayas, several thousand miles distant. This 
mighty river, comparable only to the Mississippi and Ama- 
zon in extent and volume, bears upon its bosom the mer- 
chandise of two hundred and fifty millions of people. One 
hundred miles south of Shanghai is another large city called 
Hangchow, where the Great Canal commences. Then there 
are Ningpo, Nantziang, Karding, Kwung Shau, and any 
number of smaller towns, connected with Shanghai by 
canals or water navigation. These canals are spanned by 
numerous bridges, built of stone, many of them showing 
beautiful arches, strong enough to bear a train of cars, 
erected more than two thousand years ago. They are rare- 
ly crossed by a horse, and never by any vehicle, being used 
only for pedestrians. 

We see then that Shanghai is at the mouth, or terminus, 
of a perfect net-work of canals. Thousands of junks, sam- 
pans, aud native craft, with their brilliant flags and flaming 
dragons painted on their lanteen sails, crowded every creek 
and available space, receiving and discharging cargo. Here 
are great steamers from New York, London, Marseilles, and 
the Black Sea, loading Avith tea and silks. Opium hulks, or 
stationary ships for the sale of opium, are visible too. The 
streets present a moving panorama of human beings. Wheel- 
barrows, jinrikishas, and traps do the work of transporta- 
tion. Two persons sit cross-legged on a board to balance 
each other, with a stirrup on either side to put their feet in. 
One man does the pushing. When there is only one pas- 
senger he leans his vehicle over on one side and shoves 




(504) 



CHINESE COACH, OS, WilEELBAIlROW. 



In the City of Shanghai. 505 

along. The jinrikisha has been introduced from Japan, and 
is exceedingly popular with the natives and foreigners. The 
"trap" is the one-horse four-wheeler, with a coolie perched 
behind, who shouts to the crowd, " Get out of the way ! Here 
we come!" Yet you never see anybody move an inch, and 
the wonder is there are not funerals every day. Men carry 
every thing on their shoulders, balanced at each end of bam- 
boo poles. Ships are loaded and unloaded, baggage, boxes, 
crates, provisions, vegetables, crockery, the water they drink 
or cook with, the garbage, and even the offal, are carried in 
this way. If the burden is very great it is suspended from 
a bamboo pole and borne by two men. In China, as in In- 
dia, human muscle is the cheapest commodity on the mar- 
ket. It is equally abundant. 

The Chinese scull their boats instead of row them. Some- 
times they have a rope attached to the upper end of the oar, 
while at the lower extremity it is tied to the side of the 
boat. They pull the oar with one hand while the other 
aids the stroke by pulling forward and backward upon the 
rope. The increased momentum given is simply marvel- 
ous. The accuracy with which they scull their boats, 
working the oar in the rear end backward and forward 
across a swift current, from one point to another, struck me 
with more astonishment. The women often row, while the 
little daughter pulls on the rope. They cook, eat, and 
sleep under the bamboo awnings of their sampans in the 
same manner described at Hong Kong and Canton. A 
long boat, with a little cabin in the center, called the mail 
or snake boat, runs between Shanghai and Suchow in six- 
teen hours. One man works the oar with his foot and steers 
with his hand at the same time. The average speed per 
hour is about five miles. 

It is now the 28th of May ; the weather is showery and 
sea breeze bracing, with overcast skies. We have a cup of 



506 Around the World in 1884. 

tea early in the morning, breakfast from eight to ten o'clock, 
tiffin at one, and dinner at four to six. With slight varia- 
tions, this is the prevailing custom of living among foreign- 
ers throughout the Orient. If you have the money you can 
live as comfortably here as in Georgia. The markets are 
well supplied with fish, oysters, and game — such as quail, 
pheasant, wild ducks, venison ; poultry, eggs, and vegeta- 
bles in abundance and very cheap. I never ate finer shad, 
sole, bass, carp, or chicken, in any country. Beef and mut- 
ton are dear, being produced in the mountainous districts, 
some distance away. The finest grouse and quail shooting 
is enjoyed during the season by foreigners. We have had 
at dinner, on several occasions, sweet and Irish potatoes, 
English pease, lettuce, radishes, roasting-ears, cabbage, cauli- 
flower, onions, etc. The sweet potatoes are not so firm as 
ours, but very delicious in flavor. Jerusalem artichoke is 
one of the aristocratic dishes among foreigners in Shanghai. 
The Chinese vegetables are not popular, on account of the 
way they are fertilized and forced into rapid maturity. 
They are hardly ever eaten by foreigners. Here, as in In- 
dia, coarse grass, cotton-stalks, etc., are used for fuel. The 
foreigner burns coal and wood in grates and chimney-places, 
as in his native land. The Chinese have no chimneys to 
their houses. Theyburn coal in a brazier to warm their 
hands by in winter ; pad and wad their clothing, the wealth- 
ier classes using furs to keep warm. Men and women, I am 
told, have large sleeves, into which they can draw up their 
hands. Children are wadded and stuffed out so if one should 
fall he would roll like a town-ball. The Chinese are a 
sluggish, immobile race; but when they undertake any 
thing they hardly ever fail. They have intellect and genius 
of the highest order. Their wonderful industry and econ- 
omy are the chief factors of their success. Very often they 
work and sleep in their shops. The houses of many poor 



In, the City of Shanghai. 507 

people are destitute of furniture. Sometimes they have 
stoves, benches, and chairs to sit on. A few even have bed- 
steads, but little else. On the Chinaman's mantel or over his 
bed you will see his gods. As I have remarked, he carries 
them in his boat as well. Except the wealthy, whose homes 
'are often inclosed by high brick walls, the poor people I 
have seen live in thatched or wooden houses, covered with 
tile, very often upon bare dirt floors. The family generally 
sleep in the same room, but it presents a scene of utter con- 
fusion. There are a few wooden bowls to wash and little 
sweeping to be done. All the rubbish, boxes, clothes, and 
baskets are piled up in the corners. The children are ragged 
or perfectly nude ; their mothers are at work in the field, 
and they go to work too as soon as they can toddle about. 
China is a perfect bee-hive of industrious people — a beggar 
is almost unknown. For common labor their wages are 
eight, teu, and fifteen cents a day, finding themselves ; skilled 
labor, of course, earns more. Jinrikisha and trap men often 
realize twenty-five cents, and even a dollar a day. The 
Chinese here live on vegetables, rice, and fish. A water 
chestnut is among the delicacies relished by them. But the 
Chinese differ in habits, customs, dialects, and manners in 
the eighteen provinces as much as the Southerner and 
Yankee differ in the United' States. Of course there are 
some habits common throughout the empire, such as relig- 
ious worship, mode of burial, eating with chop-sticks, etc. 

Dr. Allen is a most valuable cicerone. He gives us all 
the time he can spare from his official duties. Just now he 
is expecting the mail from America, which is looked for 
with intense desire on the arrival of the mail-steamers at 
Yokohama. From Japan it requires five days, through the 
Inland Sea, bv the Japanese Government line, to reach 
Shanghai. The arrivals at Yokohama from San Francisco 
are telegraphed here immediately, so everybody lives in 



508 Around the World in 1884. 

eager expectancy of letters and papers from home. The 
face of the Atlanta Constitution, Advocates at Nashville and 
Macon, in the Doctor's drawing-room, seemed quite familiar 
to n.e after an absence of many months. 

Finding jinrikishas convenient, in a few minutes we had 
crossed the Bund, one or two bridges over canals, and ar- 
rived in front of the north gate of the old city. The wall 
around is perhaps four miles long, twenty feet high, as wide 
at the bottom, and ten feet across the top. The top is much 
used by pedestrians. 

The streets of the new city were narrow enough ; but 
here two men could stand in the center and touch on either 
side of the houses. Crowded is too mild an expression — it 
was jammed ; and everybody was trying to jDass each other 
by dodging — no room for traps, jinrikishas, or wheelbarrows. 
There were none here. Standing-room was in demand ; we 
could not even see a chair — palanquin. After we had pro- 
ceeded a short distance, I discovered the highest prerequi- 
site necessary for doing the old city was a good nose — a 
nose that was not inclined to turn up at every thing. The 
oldest traveler knows this. The mixed smells, the un- 
swept streets, foul sewerage, poverty and dirt, visible in our 
explorations, would paralyze a elude to describe them ; and 
if he succeeded, "a civilized man would have to hold his 
nose to read it." I never knew the Doctor to indulge in 
such intemperate smoking before. The people use water 
out of the canals that run through this old city. The 
sewers empty into the canals. You can draw 7 your own 
conclusions. In the new r city the foreigners catch the rain- 
water and keep it in cisterns or jars. 

Half the population w r e saw seemed engaged in making 
"mock money," in the shape of the Chinese gold and sil- 
ver cycees. They look something like a shoe. This mock 
money is mere tissue-paper that is pasted together to repre- 



In the City of Shanghai. 509 

sent the cycee. When it is burned and sent to the other 
world for the use of the spirit-land, it passes for big money 
up there, though its cost here amounts to a trifle; you can 
buy a hat full for a couple of cents, but sent to friends in 
the other world one piece is supposed to represent one thou-, 
sand dollars. I saw carving in wood, bone, etc. ; some people 
were making fans and baskets, while others were indulging 
in the fragrant shrub "that exhilarates but does not in- 
toxicate." I saw a printer making books with the latest 
novel to sell. The Chinese are a reading people, and are 
fond of works on philosophy, fiction, poetry, their classics, 
dramatic art, etc. These books, with paper covers, are 
printed on wooden blocks, one leaf at a time, bound and 
sold for a few cents a copy. I am not sure their spring 
poet was living or dead. When we had passed through 
the surging masses into an open square, we were honored 
with a gymnastic performance, a special benefit being given 
to each — the Doctor and myself; although we saw each 
other's performance, and its artistic effect Avas exactly the 
same, it was important with the troupe that each of us 
should have a special overture. We gave it a crowded 
house, as every Chinaman in the city seemed to gather 
about us. This opera, comedy, or farce, was performed by 
a girl with trousers on ; while a boy held the legs of a 
dilapidated table, an old woman with another pair of 
breeches on jumped on top, fell flat of her back and ex- 
tended her feet in a vertical direction; up went a ladder, 
to the top went the girl — winding her nymph-like form un- 
der and over each round, she finally reached the summit; 
waving her hand in triumph with a roguish smile (she was 
after our money), she began to descend feet foremost, as she 
had gone up. I stood in breathless silence. Presently she 
bounced off the table and ran to me, with a coquettish air 
and her little roguish cap in her hand. "Hold on, Doctor; 



510 Around the World in I884. 

I '11 pay that bill. What 's the damage?" The Doctor, inter- 
preting: "One hundred and forty-four cash!" "Suffering 
Moses! there ain't money enough in the crowd to pay it. 
How much is it, please ? " "Why, only twelve cents ! Twelve 
hundred cash to the dollar makes everybody rich and 
contented. Then we came to a little garden, with a 
tea-house in it. Here they were sipping tea, eating water- 
melon seed, parched pease, etc. Several Chinamen were 
playing cards — we saw no ladies. They never go out with 
their husbands except on funeral occasions, so I heard. 
A Chinese lady considers it vulgar to walk in the streets. 
Her complete helplessness is considered her greatest charm 
— her dependence on her husband. They have no pockets 
in their dresses to carry any money in. They must make 
economical wives. 

Just as we were departing I observed a wealthy gentle- 
man approaching the garden, with a string of cash a yard 
long hanging over his shoulders. As the men have no 
pockets, the money must have square holes in the center, 
so they can string it up. I was anxious to negotiate with 
the gentleman, so I would be ready for the next perform- 
ance ; but the Doctor informed me it was his private change. 
I learned a man, unthinkingly, one day attempted to cross 
the river in front of the Astor House, and came near sink- 
ing his sampan with five dollars worth of this stuff, called 
" copper cash." 

We visited Confucian and Tauist temples amidst the yells 
of the heathen boys. Boys are pretty much alike all the 
world round. Girls are very different. There was a big 
drum and a bell at the entrance to the temple-grounds ; the 
yard was overgrown with weeds and grass, while the build- 
ings showed neglect, and wore an air of general dilapida- 
tion. There is not much difference between Tauism and 
Buddhism in China — the religion is about the same. Some- 



In the City of Shanghai. 511 

times a Chinaman having doubt about one will adopt both, 
just to be certain " he has got it." The architecture of the 
Chinese temple springs from the Mongolian tent, that of 
the Greeks from a tree. 

We observed the different censers, altars, etc., where the 
offerings are made to the dead on semi-annual occasions. 
A native charity hospital showed the care that is taken of 
the aged and poor. Those able to work were employed in 
making articles to sell. In one part of the building I saw 
immense piles of rice done up in matting and stored away 
for consumption. 

Returning, we visit a justice's court and several jails, 
where we saw a large number of prisoners awaiting trial. 
The first was a bamboo pen, with the poles set upright a few 
inches apart. Each prisoner wore a large board around his 
neck so he could not reach his mouth with his hands. They 
were iu here for theft, debt, abduction, etc. One man said 
he was in there for marrying his brother's wife; another Chi- 
naman replied, "Don't believe him" — intimating that ab- 
duction was a less crime than thieving. In another prison 
(a building) we saw some hideous faces, whose guilty con- 
sciences already accused them. Dr. Allen remarked that 
several of these men would be beheaded. From the magis- 
trate court the small offenders can appeal to a higher tribu- 
nal. The subjoined oath is the one usually administered to 
witnesses in California and China: 

" This is to inform the spirits of the gods, also the evil spirits 
and demons, all to descend here to hear, oversee, and examine 
into the case [naming the parties litigant] and crime charged. 
If I come here to swear profanely and tell the untruth or not, 
according to the facts of the case, I humbly beg the celes- 
tial and terrestial spirits to redress the innocent part)' and pun- 
ish the false witness immediately, and arrest his soul. May 
he die under a sword, or die on the half-way of the sea, and 



512 



Around the World in 188 J/.. 



have no life to return to China. This is the true and 
solemn declaration of oath sworn to hy my own mouth, and 

signed by my own name, by my own hand. Done this 

day, month, in the year of Quong Sol." 




A COOLIE IN IIIS BAMBOO OVERCOAT — WET WEATHER. 



A novel overcoat, worn by the coolie in wet weather, is 
made out of split bamboo ; he wears a hat of the same ma- 
terial, and straw sandals confined by strings around his 
ankles drawn over from each side. Many go barefooted as 
in other countries, but the better classes in China wear nice 
cloth shoes turned up at the toes. They have leather bot- 
toms, generally edged with black cloth. Then they have 
a straw sandal for the house, while the tiny shoes of the 
ladies are made of beautiful colored silks. A full-srrown 



In the City of ShangJuzi. 



513 



lady's shoe is often not more than four inches long. The 
custom of binding their feet is of very ancient origin, the 
history of which seems lost in obscurity. Only the wealthy 
classes are addicted to it as a custom; sometimes there is a 
pretty girl in a poor family 
who must undergo the horrid 
torture, in the hope of mar- 
rying wealthy. The bandages 
are loosened about three times 
from birth to maturity, and are 
not removed until the feet have 
ceased to grow. The Chinese 
say it does not affect the health 
like tight lacing in America. 
A Chinese beau dotes on the 
small feet of his sweetheart. 
He must see them occasionally, 
as avc saw them on the " Han- 
kow," going up to Canton. 
The girls blushed awfully as 
we cast sly glances at their ti- 
ny feet peeping out below their 
baggy trousers of colored silks. 
" We should n't ought to have 
done it," but we could n't ought 
to have helped it. Sir John de- 
clared they looked mighty cun- 
ning — that is, the girls. When 
they are grown, their toes have 
been mashed flat and turned in under the bottom of their 
feet, their big toe alone escaping the deformity. When they 
attempt to walk, they hobble about in the most ludicrous 
manner. The Chinese have only carried this custom to ex- 
tremes as the Singhalese of Ceylon and Hindoo girls of India 
33 




SOLE OF A CHINESE SHOE 



514 Around the World in I8S4. 

have bangles and rings. The Americans and Europeans, in 
modified forms, are subject to as much criticism in wearing 
jewelry, lacing, and small shoes. Except the Chicago girls, 
there is not a woman in America, we believe, who is not 
proud of her No. 3 or No. 4 shoe, if she can wear it. Let 
us be charitable in our criticisms of the Chinese. 

Somebody asked a Chinaman Avhy his people did not 
abandon the horrible practice of binding feet. " Smallee 
footee woman no go walkee, walkee, walkee," he replied. 
We are to infer that Chinese ladies would walk the streets 
if they could, the same as women in other lands. This 
is one advantage our ladies have over them. We subjoin 
an interesting history of this ancient custom that appears 
to be nine hundred years old : 

In A.D. 975 the last Empress of the famous Tang dynas- 
ty, who was the most beautiful woman of her time, had 
clubbed feet. She bandaged and ornamented them so suc- 
cessfully that the fashion of cramped feet spread through 
the whole empire. The Emperor Kang-Hi, the founder of 
the present Manchu dynasty, in 1762, made a great effort 
to suppress foot-binding. After issuing one edict that 
proved ineffectual, he prepared another, accompanied with 
most stringent and severe penalties; but his advisers warned 
him that if he persisted it would probably cause a rebellion. 
Thus the conquerors of China were conquered by the women 
of China. They set their tiny feet on princes' necks. On 
the men he imposed the shaved head and the cue, and also 
the dress they had to wear; but when he tried to suppress 
• this practice, the women defied him. 

The following morning Sir John joined us in a visit to the 
Government Arsenal, about five miles distant. This ride 
by jinrikishas carried us out in the country, along a road 
where there was a countless number of graves. At least 
one-third of the land around Shanghai is a grave-yard. 



In the y City of Shanghai. 515 

Thousands of conical mounds, covered with grass, mark the 
resting-places of its departed millions. In China it costs 
more to support the dead than it does the living. One hun- 
dred and fifty millions of dollars are spent annually in 
ancestral worship. Fortunately every few hundred years, 
with the change of the ruling dynasty, the whole country is 
leveled and takes a new start. " The higher the mound the 
greater the social distinction of the dead." I have seen 
coffins setting on benches waiting feu 1 burial — coffins just cov- 
ered with matting or straw, or nothing at all, on top of the 
ground. Dr. Allen pointed out a baby tower on the road- 
side that resembled a well walled with brick. In a hole in 
the center infants and small children are thrust, wrapped in 
cloth ; and when filled, another would be built. 

The Arsenal consists of a number of huge brick build- 
ings, in which we found about three thousand Chinamen at 
work. Here you can see them building ships and iron-clad 
men-of-war, making Woolwich guns of immense caliber, 
swords, side-arms, and the Remington musket, every part of 
it. I examined the work carefully; it is well and thorough- 
ly done. They make shot and shell. The iron is imported 
from England, and an Englishman superintends this gi- 
gantic establishment. The Europeans are not only learn- 
ing the Chinese how to fight, but to make their own guns 
and ammunition. In the translation department here Dr. 
Allen labored eleven years. His place is now filled by an 
Englishman; but I learn the Government would be glad to 
give the Doctor fifteen dollars a day for his services if he 
will return. Dr. Allen, Rev. Matthew Yates, and Dr. 
Martin are considered the best Chinese scholars among the 
foreigners in the empire. 

I was interested in the engraver's department, where the 
books are all published. When the manuscript has been 
once carefully prepared on transparent paper, each letter 



516 Around the World in IS84. 

in a little square by itself, it is laid or pasted on blocks of 
wood and then cut out, each character, by the engraver. 
A page of this so cut will be a fac-simile of the printed 
copy. A brush dipped in ink is j>assed over these blocks, 
like the roller over our type, the paper then placed on them, 
and being rubbed over again by another brush the printing 
is done. This is a slow process, but the Chinese discovered 
it long before we did our metal type, and stick to it. The 
more progressive Chinese laugh at the old way in compar- 
ison with the Presbyterian Mission type-press, in operation 
in Shanghai. I was presented with engravings of the Con- 
fucian Annals, which are the size of the page of the book 
published. 

Of all the foreigners who have figured in the history of 
China none have left a more enduring name than the 
British General Charles George Gordon, the gallant hero 
•and martyred soldier of Khartoum. He is known here 
as "Chinese Gordon," having rendered efficient military 
services some years ago in restoring order and peace in 
China. He was believed by many to have possessed a 
charmed life, so eventful had been his career. In the late 
war, just ended in the Soudan, Gen. Gordon was besieged 
iu Khartoum by the rebels, against whom he fought in a 
death struggle for months and months without relief. 
Finally the Gladstone or Home Government dispatched 
an expedition under Gen. Wolseley up the Nile for the re- 
lief of Khartoum; but before it reached its destination, 
fighting its way through the desert, news was received by 
the British forces that Khartoum had fallen, and that the 
dauntless hero had been butchered in the palace by the 
treason of one of his trusted followers. 




GEN. CHARLES GEORGE GORDON. 



(517) 



518 Around the World in 1SS4. 

CHAPTER L. 

Rambles— Sight-seeing and Fung Shuey. 

COMING home last night, Dr. Allen remarked, as we 
passed by an electric motor : " When the electric light 
was first introduced here, it would have amused you to 
watch the Chinese run up a ladder and wait to see how 
the candles were lighted. He could not understand how 
they could be lit without matches. Presently it Avould flash 
right in his face. l Devil pigeon!' he would exclaim; 'devil 
pigeon ! ' and down he came." 

When the English steamers first appeared in Chinese 
waters the Chinese built a boat just like them, painted eyes 
in the bow, and launched it; but it would not go. They 
were perfectly astounded. They had no idea about ma- 
chinery. They thought it ought to go anyhow. 

One morning after breakfast we started on a pedestrian 
tour in the country in the rear of the city, sight-seeing. A 
number of familiar-looking trees soon attracted my atten- 
tion. The China-tree, with its blooms and berries, looked 
like an old friend. Here it is dignified with the name of 
Empress of India, which suggests it must have originally 
come from that country. The mulberry, willow, cypress, 
pine, elm, cedar, arbor vitse, peach-tree, pibo (Japan plum), 
all indicated the latitude of Middle Georgia. The tallow- 
tree and camphor-tree were among the exceptions. Tallow 
is obtained from the berries, while camphor comes from 
boiling the small twigs, leaves, etc., of that tree. Formo- 
sa, which is the West Indies of China, produces the best 
camphor-gum. But the wood is sawed into lumber for 
furniture, boxes, chairs, and every thing. A camphor-box 
is proof against moths — so said. 

- In the rear of the city were large pyramidal straw houses 
used for storing ice. The paddy-fields are as remunerative 



Sight-seeing in City and Country. 510 



in winter as they are in summer. The ice is broken up 
in the fields and floated into these houses. It is largely 
used in summer in shipping fish in junks from the coast to 
Suchow and Shanghai - . For a hundred miles square around 
Shanghai the rich alluvial bottoms, a few feet above the 
sea, are cultivated like a garden. Two or three crops are 
grown on the same beds at the same time. The highlands 
are planted in beds four to six feet wide. I saw young cot- 
ton sown broadcast in the wheat, a few weeks ago, up three 
inches high. In a few days the wheat will be taken oil' 
and the hoes will go through this cotton crop weeding 
out. The cotton will be followed by broad ,beans. This is 
the rotation on the highlands: First year, wheat; second 
year, cotton ; third year, beans. Lowlands are planted 
in rice the first year, followed the second and third years 
by cotton and wheat. Wheat comes off 1st to 10th of 
June; ground is broken up by bullocks (buffalo cows), 
flooded, harrowed, fertilized, and rice transplanted from 
beds. The rice-beds being sown in April r the plants are 
four or five inches high by June, and their growth is 
scarcely retarded by transplanting. We examined a water- 
wheel made of bamboo, with rim, buckets, and all complete, 
worked by a bullock in the same way described in Egypt. 
It flooded the crops from a canal. "Hold your nose," 
says Dr. Allen; "we are going through a field of guano 
factories — manure sinks." My nose had been naturalized 
in the old city; but when the guano distributors were set 
in motion, the Doctor, with a bland smile, told the men to 
hold up, or hold clown, until we could pass. These liquids 
are brought from the villages and city every day, distributed 
in barrels or sinks over these fertile acres, before they are 
applied broadcast. Whenever a crop of any description is 
planted the liquids are applied. They are applied to the 
growing crops of rice as well. Thus every foot of land cul- 



520 Around the World in 188 4. 

tivated is first enriched. The broad beans are planted 
largely, fed to stock and eaten by the people. Indian corn 
grows well; but I don't think it is used much. The 
wheat is all of a bearded variety, like the Egyptian. It 
grows in the same fields along-side of rice, and does not seem 
to rust. But the quality is not so good as American, nor 
does it appear to make fine flour on the little millstones of the 
natives. This land is worth seven hundred dollars per 
acre, producing three or four crops a year. Dr. Allen in- 
quired for me of one man, "How much' land you work?" 
" One acre and three-quarters, sir." " How many in fam- 
ily?" "Severn" "Make good living?" " Tight squeeze," 
says the Chinaman. ' 

Arriving at a village, we saw piles of straw in front of 
the houses, a few domestic animals tied up, capon chick- 
ens and ducks scratching about or swimming in the canal. 
A sneaking cur got wind of our approach and set up a fear- 
ful yelling. A woman invited us to take a bench, which 
we accepted ; but she never stopped spinning. She worked 
both pedals with her feet, which ran a belt over three spin- 
dles and spun three threads at once. This is done in a sitting 
posture. As they have no cards, it was wonderful what 
skill she employed in attenuating the batted cotton. The 
cotton is picked off or separated by roller gins, and whipped 
with a stick arrangement until its fiber unites, as in card- 
ing. It is then spun. All the crop of China is manufact- 
ured at home. 

Everywhere you see thread in warp. Often in the same 
house they spin and weave the coarse cloth that is worn by 
the family. The warp is stretched out on pegs in a frame 
at full length, much like our mothers used to do it. Hun- 
dreds of years ago the people wore silk, but that is too 
costly now, only for the wealthy. Cotton was cultivated 
about Nankin before our Saviour was born. 



Sight-seeing in City and Country. 521 

A little farther on there was a tremendous noise of some 
sort, which Ave could hear, but could not see. It was evi- 
dently seditious or revolutionary in its character, from the 
incongruities of sounds. We had better retrograde; but 
the Doctor assured me it was a school in session, and we 
hurried on. Arriving at the door of the academy, which 
consisted of a thatched bamboo hut with a dirt floor, we 
found the teacher fast asleep. The school was taking a weld- 
ing heat on their last lessons. The boys and girls were all 
standing up with their backs to the recumbent school- 
master studying away at the top of their voices. It looked 
just a trifle indifferent in us to arouse the old gentleman — 
but the children stopped suddenly on our entrance, which 
must have alarmed him, and up he jumped with a pair of 
big red eyes. He invited us tojae seated ; and after getting 
his eyes open, in the appalling silence of the school- room 
he answered several very polite questions propounded by 
the Doctor. 

Across the ditches and canals there were" long stone slabs 
ten to twenty feet in length, for pedestrians. Bamboo grew 
in groups about the villages, and bamboo-shoots, young and 
tender, furnished the epicures with a delicious esculent on 
their tables. 

Returning to the city, we walked a mile or more down the 
abandoned bed of the only railroad line ever built in China. 
There was some dispute between the English company — 
who had secured a charter for running horse-cars from 
Shanghai down to AVnsung, mouth of the river — and the 
Chinese authorities about a violation of their chartered 
rights. The English got tired of horses, and hitched on a 
steam-engine. All of China became indignant over the 
supposed outrage. This was only seven or eight years ago. 
The controversy that arose in consequence, between Pekin 
and the Court of St. James, resulted in the purchase by the 



522 Around the World in 188 Jf. 

Chinese Government of the road and its franchises, with full 
remuneration for loss to the company. I had heard the 
Government had sunk the iron in the bottom of the Pa- 
cific Ocean; but they had simply moved it over into Corea. 
That iron is just waiting to come back. Before they took 
up the track it is said that every Chinaman for thirty miles 
around walked down and took a ride on it. I thought I 
could hear that engine coming every step I made until 
we had reached its old depot or station-house in the city. 
In front of its massive gates there was an immense crowd 
assembled, indicating there was some unusual event trans- 
piring inside the inclosure. Dr. Allen, whispering to the 
guard, motioned to me. " Come," he says, " this is one of the 
most notable events ever celebrated in China." " What is it, 
Doctor ? " I eagerly inquired. " Why, the Tai-tou is celebrat- 
ing his mother's birthday; a rare opportunity to see the no- 
bility!" "But how can we get in? I suppose they are all 
invited guests." " Yes, that is the trouble." 

There were thousands outside who would have given a 
year's wages, I apprehend, to get a peep. Putting another 
"bug" into the guard's car, we both passed into the first 
court, and approaching the grand entrance to a large build- 
ing the second guard swung back the doors, which admitted 
us to full view of forty Chinese noblemen and their ladies. 
The Tai-tou was there, I suppose; his mother I did not recog- 
nize. But the nobility of the empire sat around marble- 
top tables sipping tea, eating sweets, fruit, etc. I observed 
one and two button mandarins, with red, blue, gilt, crystal, 
and white balls on the top of their caps to denote the class 
to which they belonged. The imposing retinue of servants 
wore about as many airs as their masters. It was difficult 
for me to distinguish them at times. Some of the manda- 
rins w r erc standing about in groups, others sitting as de- 
scribed. A number were indulging in the pipe, their ladies 



Sightseeing in City and Country. 



m 



being seated opposite to us, across the court, under the gal- 
lery that extended all round. Across this open space the 
eves of the nobility were upturned, looking at a theatrical 
performance going on for their amusement. The troupe was 
from Pekin, and no doubt had often played before the 
Emperor at the palace. They were performing on a raised 
platform twenty feet above the ground. Occasionally the 
mandarins gave a guffaw, and then resumed their pipes. 




TIIE ORCHESTRA. 



The troupe consisted of five men dressed like clowns. They 
marched in and out of an ante-room at least a dozen times, 
the band following. Occasionally they would halt and say 
something funny. The mandarins laughed. At last, in 
the triumphant pose of his majestic body, Macbeth stopped 



524 Around the World in 1884. 

at the head of the troupe, faced his audience, drew his sword 
iu the wildest excitement, and brought down his autagonist 
at a single stroke. Presently the dead man arose. " What ! 
shouted Macbeth ; " I strike thee down with my sword, and 
yet thou livest?" This brought down the house. Every- 
body roared, except the uninvited guest and the ladies. 
The tom-tom, or band of music, just "took the cake." 

The gentlemen wore silk robes over silk or satin trousers, 
summer caps made of bamboo hung with fringes of silk, 
and on their breast some designation of rank. Each cap 
had a ball on top ; and their baggy trousers were gathered 
above silk slippers or" shoes. All this dress is prescribed 
semi-annually by the "Board of Rites" at Pekin, and pub- 
lished in the Official Gazette. 

The ladies' dress consisted of short loose robes confined 
around the throat with a narrow collar. The robe is worn 
over a long fall skirt, both of which are frequently made 
of richly embroidered silks. The sleeves are long and large 
enough to fall over the hands; while the hair is gathered up 
in a knot on top of their heads, and fastened with golden 
bodkins and adorned with flowers. They all wore trousers, 
shoes of satin, silk, or velvet, beautifully worked with gold, 
silver, and colored silks. The little girls' short dresses reach 
up to their throats and fall over full trousers. Their hair, 
combed from their foreheads, hangs down in plaits on each 
side until they become brides, when the braids and curls 
are formed into knots, intermixed with flowers and jewels. 
Dr. Allen personally knew several of the mandarins, whose 
agreeable smiles he recognized on several occasions. There 
w'ere men of great dignity and impressive personal appear- 
ance here, with immense goggles on. This was a good 
piece of Fung Shuey (luck') for the close of the clay's ram- 
bling. 

China is a land of superstition, hobgoblins, good and evil 



Sight-seeing in City and Country. 



525 



spirits. Everybody believes in these, from the three-button 
mandarin down to the coolie. A gentle breeze brings long 
life and happiness from the south; but the north wind is 
blown by the devil, and brings sickness and death. When 
it thunders in China it is a sign the Emperor's ministers 
are quarreling; when it is foggy, the women are meddling 




FUNG SHLKV. 



with private and public affairs. Have you ever noticed the 
number of pretty days we have in Georgia? But there are 
many of our people who believe in Fung Shuey. Yes, 
American people. They see evil spirits about their grave- 
yards, hang horseshoes over their doors to keep them out; 
carry rabbit's foot in their vest-pockets ; won't cross a road 
if they see a rabbit cross it, because it's bad Fung Shtey! 
Then we call Chinese heathens, and they call us barbarians 
and foreign devils. " If you were not barbarians you would 
not kill our people in America, batter down our walls here 
with your cannon, destroy our people with opium, and kill 



52G Around the World in 188%. 

our wives and children. We don't trouble you. We pro- 
tect your people here under our treaties; but your people 
murder ours in America." 

Fung Shuey literally means " wind and water." These 
spirits, or wind, move in a straight line. The people build 
walls in front of their gates to arrest them — keep them 
out. Trade gets bad in a town, business declines, the doc- 
tors hold a council to investigate the causes. One morning 
they found the wall, or gate, down where the devil got in. 
The wall was repaired, and business revived at once. 

Confucius was a remarkable man. He was born five 
hundred and forty-nine years before Christ; collected and 
wrote the five books of prose and poetry which are uni- 
versally studied to this day by the Chinese as sacred vol- 
umes. His system is one of morality more than religion, 
inculcating obedience of children to parents, founding 
upon this theory the whole structure of the Government. 
In these teachings he lays down the duties of the sovereign 
as well as of the subject; and while he exhorts the people 
to obey the Emperor as their father, lie is exhorted to care 
for his people as he would his children. Confucius was the 
Martin Luther of his times, for his sayings, maxims,, mor- 
als, and philosophy are taught in every school-room, home, 
and college, forming the basis of all their knowledge, from 
his time down to the present day. He is -worshiped by the 
literary classes as the most wise and holy one. The people 
use no pictures or images as the Buddhists do in worshiping 
Confucius in their temples. To his teachings we must trace 
ancestral worship, in which he believed himself. Worship 
of ancestors, or the dead, and Fung Shuey are the two great 
causes to-day that oppose all foreign intervention — Chris- 
tianity, colleges, railroads, telegraph-poles, the working of the 
coal-mines, and innovation of all foreigners. Every port 
that has been opened and every treaty negotiated has been 



Sight-seeing in City and Country. 527 



wrung at the cannon's mouth, in consequence of this super- 
stition, of traditional customs, and horror of disturbing the 
departed spirits. 

The whole empire is a grave-yard. Fung Shuey affects 
the dead as well as the living ; hence every effort to protect 
the graves from evil influences. In digging the railroad, 
suppose the spade decapitates some venerated friend in 
these ancestoral burial-grounds — the headless ghost would 
then wander about in the land of darkness, when the retri- 
bution of disease and death would be visited upon the mis- 
creants who had permitted such sacrilege. This worship 
of the dead is the chief religion of the empire. Filial rev- 
erence is religion. 

The Chinese believe this is the world of light — after this 
is the world of darkness; that the dead, or those in the 
spirit-world, can look out or down in this world and behold 
the deeds of the living. Those living here in the light can- 
not see in the darkness. The people live in constant fear 
of the dead. A son worships at the grave of his father, 
who rewards him with health and prosperity. Up there 
the father needs food, clothing, sampans, his hoe, rake, 
and plow, boats, chickens, rice, ducks, and fish, just as he 
needed them down here. As his father is in the invisible 
world, these articles, made out of paper, wood, etc., must be 
burned into ashes at the temples and sent to the other world 
in an invisible state. 

Some writer has observed: "In China a man endowed 
with much forethought can make some provision for his 
own future comfort." The priests have considerately organ- 
ized a bank for the spirit-world. To this the provident 
may remit large sums during their life-time, and can draw 
on the bank as soon as they reach the dark country. The 
priests periodically announce their intention of remitting 
money on a certain day, and invite all who have any to 



528 



Around the World in I8S4. 



deposit to bring it. All who feel doubtful of the generosity 
of their next heirs accordingly come and buy from the 
priests as much as they can afford of the tin-foil paper 
money which is current among the spirits. It is an excel- 
lent investment, as for a handful of brass cash, altogether 
worth about one penny, they will receive sycee — i. e., the 
boat-shaped blocks of silvery-looking tin-foil, bearing a 
spiritual value of thirty dollars. 




REMEMBERING DEI>ARTE1> FRIENDS. 



Paper houses, furniture, and clothes may in like manner 
be purchased and stored beforehand, in the happy security 
that neither moth nor rust shall corrupt them, neither shall 
thieves break through and steal them. When the depositor 



Sight-seeing in City and Country. 529 

(probably a poor coolie -or an aged beggar) has invested 
his little savings in this precious rubbish in the ecclesias- 
tical bazar he delivers it to the priest, together with a sum 
of real money as commission. For this the priest gives a 
written receipt. All this din is thrown into a large boat. 
It is a frame-work of reeds with a bamboo mast, and its 
sails and planking are of paper. When all the depositors' 
have made their payments, the priests walk several times 
around the boat, chanting some incantation, then simulta- 
neously set fire to both euds, and the paper fabric vanishes 
in a flash of flame. The priests bid the depositors keep 
their certificates with all care, and give them to some trust- 
worthy person to "burn after their decease, whereupon the 
said certificates will reach them safely. 

The Emperor is divine; he reigns in heaven as well as on 
earth. The invisible world is a counterpart of China, with 
its Government administered by the Emperor, court, min- 
isters, prefects, viceroys, etc., just the same. The Emperor 
represents the Pontiff of Eome, and can intercede or come 
between the people of this and the other world. 

The people worship the gods in each magisterial district 
with a view of propitiating them in behalf of some of their 
dead friends. In . prefects the jurisdiction is larger, and 
they worship on up until it comes to addressing the Em- 
peror. If they should neglect the dead, they believe they 
will be punished for it. If a Chinaman dies in California or 
Australia, he wants to be brought home, where his friends 
can provide for him. Three festivals a year are celebrated 
at the temples in honor of those who have no father, moth- 
er, or friends to look after them. 

China, with its four hundred and twenty millions, is an 
inert mass, it has been said. It cannot be moved from with- 
in ; it must be moved from without. The Bible mission- 
aries, railroads, telegraph wires, steam-boats, telephones, 
34 



530 Around the World in 188 i. 

electricity, hospitals, arsenals, and school-houses are among 
the potent factors that will accomplish for China what is 
being done in Japan, and what has already been accom- 
plished in India. Brahmanism, caste, prejudices, and sacred 
bulls, in India; Fung Shuism, ancestral worship, supersti- 
tion, and traditions, in China, must yield to superior forces 
of modern civilization. When the locomotive-whistle goes 
screaming through this empire of grave-yards (which it 
will and must do), breaking up "these chains which bind 
the living to the dead," the sunlight of hope that is tinge- 
ing her mountain-brows will flood the valleys of China with 
the cries of redeemed millions. This may be a work of 
years, and even ages. But we cannot remain idle; it is an 
effort worthy of our highest ambition. The Bible and the 
missionary will yet be triumphant. 



CHAPTER LI. 

Mission Work — Anglo-Chinese College. 

THE first effort at introducing the Protestant religion was 
made by Dr. Morrison, in 1807. He had first to ac- 
quire the language, translate the Bible; and then to the 
Chinese it was incomprehensible. " The beginning of the 
gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God," Mr. Nevins 
says, rendered according to the Chinese idiom, reads thus : 
" God's Son, Jesus Christ, gospel beginning." As they had 
thousands of deities of their own, they thought God sug- 
gested as many more. Gospel translated meant "happiness 
and sound." It was seven years before Morrison had the 
first convert, and twenty-eight years later before a church 
was founded. The Opium War came on then, which preju- 
diced the people against all foreigners and their religion. 
This was in 1844. The Protestants now claim twenty-five 



Mission Work — Anglo- Chinese College. 531 

thousand converts, and the Catholics nearly one million. 
The latter denomination has been at work here many hun- 
dred years. About two centuries ago their property was 
all confiscated and the Jesuits driven out of the country 
for alleged political intrigue against the Chinese Govern- 
ment ; but several years ago the discovery of some old deeds 
reinstated millions of property throughout the empire to 
these influential Christian people by treaty. The fathers of 
the Church adopt the cues and Chinese costume, and build 
houses like the Chinese, some say, just to please the people. 

I regret my inability to visit the immense Catholic estab- 
lishment at Sikawie, near the city, where there are over one 
thousand people, about seven hundred of whom are receiv- 
ing instruction from the fathers and sisters. It is a wonder- 
ful institution, composed of a foundling hospital, schools, 
and even a mad-house — buildings which cover one hundred 
acres of ground. In connection is an observatory for mak- 
ing meteorological observations; while in the city is a pyro- 
technic institution that exhibits the workings of the tele- 
graph, with much fine apparatus for illustration, compound- 
ing, etc., in the doctor-shop. A large revenue derived from 
valuable real estate in Shanghai supports the institution. 
The Catholics are certainly doing a great work here, wor- 
thy of their highest ambition. 

Of the Protestants, the Baptists — with Dr. Lord at 
Ningpo, and Dr. Matthew Yates in Shanghai — are among 
the most distinguished workers and scholars in China. Dr. 
Lord some years ago first obtained consent of the Chinese 
girls at his school — in fact made it a condition of attendance 
— that they should unbind their feet. The parents objected 
at first; "their daughters could never marry without small 
feet." But Dr. Lord triumphed ; and the girls, growing up, 
married as well as any others. This was a wonderful step 
in advance, which has been fraught with good results. 



532 Around the World in IS84. 

The Presbyterian Church of the South has been represent- 
ed here for some years by Mr. Davis, Mr. Dubose, and Miss 
Saffold, and Stewart, Painter, and Helm, of the Suchow 
and Hangchow dictricts. The Chinese graduate the social 
status of our missionary -women according to their own. 
As all their women are either married or concubines, they 
cannot understand the relation of an unmarried lady in a 
married man's family. I have heard our missionary girls 
have had to bear many hard epithets from the common 
people. 

We visited the Seventh-day Baptist, Mr. Davis, and the 
Bridgman Home, on the edge of the city, called West Gate. 
Miss E. M. McKeetchnie received us with great cordial- 
ity at the Home. After serving delightful tea and cake, 
this estimable lady (from one of our Northern States) or- 
ganized her school to entertain us with agreeable exercises 
of music, needle-work, etc. These bright little Chinese girls 
were neatly dressed, with unbound feet. Dr. Allen spoke in 
the highest praise of this school. Both Chinese and En- 
glish, I believe, are being taught. Miss McKeetchnie's lady 
companion was absent on a visit to America. 

I jDropose now to give our Methodist people of the South 
the results of niy personal observations and investigation of 
their schools and mission work in China. I had traveled 
two-thirds around the globe without meeting a single mis- 
sionary from the South, until I reached Shanghai. Here 
is the nucleus, or base, of the only representative Church 
work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, on this 
side of the Pacific. Well may we feel proud of it, for it is 
a grand monument to the self-sacrifices and labors of conse- 
crated men and women Avho are buried here, and to those 
living, toiling, patient workers who are illustrating the 
spirit of the gospel, and winning for themselves a crown 
of immortality in heaven. In 1848 Taylor and Jenkins, 



Mixtion Work — Anglo-Chinese College. 



our first missionaries, landed at Shanghai ; then Cunnyngham 
in 1852. For two years he was alone — Jenkins had come 
home in the meantime, and returned with Messrs. Lambuth, 
Kelley, and Belton as reenforcements. Belton died on his 
way home in 1855; and the following year Kelley returned. 
In 1860 Dr. Young J. Allen and Mr. Word arrived. From 
1866 to 1875 Drs. Lambuth and Allen were our only rep- 
resentatives, when Parker arrived ; since then, W. R. Lam- 
buth and Miss L. Rankin, in 1878; C. F. Reid and Miss 
D. Rankin, in 1879 ; Royall, Loehr. and McLain, in 1880— 
the latter, remaining only two months, returned and died ; 
and Park, Anderson, Mingledorff, and Miss Anna Muse, 
in 1882. In the fall of 1884, Professor W. B. Bonnell, 
Miss Laura A. Haygood, with Miss Dona Hamilton and 
Miss Jennie Atkinson, arrived at Shanghai. 

From the subjoined official report of 1885 the subdivis- 
ion of the various works may be observed under the heading 
of three presiding elders' districts, viz., Shanghai, Nantzi- 
ang, and Suchow. The extracts show the statistics, health of 
the Mission, and last appointments for the year preceding: 

"Statistics.— The following comprise the statistics of the 
China Mission to December 31, 1884, viz.: Male mission- 
aries, 12—2 being absent: female missionary, 1; Woman's 
Missionary Society missionaries, 9 ; stations where mission- 
aries reside, 3; out-stations, 6; communicants, 163— male 
75, female 88; self-supporting church, 1; probationers, 56; 
Anglo-Chinese schools, 2— pupils, 269; foreign teachers, 5; 
native teachers, 7; boys' boarding-school, 1— pupils 5ij; 
boys' day-schools, 8— pupils, 127; girls' boarding-schools, 3 
—pupils 107; girls' day-schools,. 8— pupils, 114; Sunday- 
schools, 14— pupils, 478; ordained native preachers, 3; 
unordained preachers, 6; colporteurs and helpers, 5 ; Bible- 
women, 3; church-buildings, 7— value $11,300, sittings 
1,270; rented chapels, 14— sittings, 870; male hospital, 1 



5c 4 Around the World in 188 '4. 

— value, $10,000; in-patients, 272, out-patients, 11,587; 
medical students, 8; periodicals published, 1,100; books 
and periodicals distributed, 16,226; contribution of na- 
tive Church, $198 ; total value of Mission property — Parent 
Board $107,300, Woman's Board of Missions $28,200. 

"Health of the Mission. — From sickness and alarms 
of war the usual operatives of the Mission have suffered 
considerably during the year. Brother Mingledorff was 
disabled for several months in the spring and summer, while 
toward the close of the year Brother Reid, after vainly 
striving to stave off such a necessity, was obliged, in obedience 
to competent medical authority, to return to the United 
States Avith his family. At this date, however, all the mis- 
sionaries and their families are well, and the usual work is 
progressing favorably. God's mercies and blessings have 
been signally vouchsafed us amidst all our trials of sickness 
and other interruptions, and to him, in devout acknowledg- 
ment of his great grace, would we reconsecrate ourselves for 
renewed service during the year which is just before us. 

"In conclusion, we cannot forbear a further and emphat- 
ic reference to our call for more laborers. On the 'sent' 
was never a higher distinction conferred than that of being 
a missionary to China, nor to the Church a grander con- 
quest offered than awaits achievement in the conversion of 
her millions to Christ. The felt and longed-for but inartic- 
ulate desire of all nations — the gospel — is now the desire 
and need of China. 

"Appointments. — Shanghai District. J. W. Lambuth, 
P. E. Shanghai, O. A. Dukes. Trinity Church, Sz Tsz Kia. 
Shanghai Circuit, to be .supplied (by Tseu Hoong). Tsih 
Pan, Lee Bing Zung. Soong Kong, Dzung Yoong Chung, 
Tsing-poo, Dzung Sau Tsung. Anglo-Chinese College: 
W. W. Royall, Principal; W. B. Bonnell, G. P. Loehr, 
Miss Anna J. Muse. Woman's Work : Miss Laura A. Hay- 



Mission Work — Anglo-Chinese College. 535 

good, in charge; Miss Dona Hamilton, Miss Jennie Atkin- 
son, assistants; Miss Anna J. Muse, in Anglo-Chinese Col- 
lege (vide above). 

"Nantziang District. 0. G. Mingledorff, P. E. Nantziang 
Circuit, SungKyung Kwei. Kading and Wongdu, Dzung 
Tsing San. Pleasant College, Miss Loehie Rankin, Princi- 
pal. Anglo-Chinese and Day Schools, Miss Dora Rankin, 
in charge. 

"Suchow District. D. L. Anderson, P. E. Nicholas Church, 
Lee Tsz Nyi. Hospital, Dzau Tsz Zeh. Buffington Sem- 
inary and Non Toong Gyan, Tsa Yoong Tsang. Kwun 
San, to be supplied. Buffington Seminary, A. P. Parker. 
Hospital, W. R. Lambuth; W. H. Park, absent. Woman's 
Work: Boarding and Day Schools, etc., Mrs. Parker and 
Miss L. Philips. Hospital: Miss Dr. Mildred Philips in 
charge ; Miss Baldwin, assistant. General Treasurer of the 
Mission, O. A. Dukes. Superintendent, Young J. Allen." 

At Shanghai are comprised at present the evangelistic 
work, the educational (Anglo-Chinese University) and wom- 
an's work. There is one self-supporting church here — Little 
Trinity, the munificent gift of Hon. L. G. Harris, of Athens, 
Ga. There are numerous chapels in the walled or native 
city, foreign city, and distributed throughout the districts. 

The educational work comprises at present the wom- 
an's work, the premises being large and well located, with 
the following departments: Boarding-school, training-school 
for Bible-women, day-schools for boys and girls, and gen- 
eral visiting work from house to house among the women, 
having in view the establishment of a high school or col- 
lege of a similar class for girls and young ladies, to be self- 
supporting. This woman's work will be in charge of Miss 
Laura A. Haygood, late of Trinity Church, Atlanta, assist- 
ed by a staff of competent workers ; for this feature of the 
work w T ill be the best ever organized or put in operation. 



536 Around the World in IS84. 

The work in the district of Nantziang comprises the 
evangelistic and woman's work combined. Here the Misses 
Rankin have established a large and nourishing boarding- 
school for girls, and partly self-supporting school for boys, the 
most prominent feature being the easy access to the women, 
a great number of whom attend church and visit the schools. 

The Suchow district comprises a missionary community 
Avith these several departments: The church, theological 
and boarding school for boys combined ; also a large hos- 
pital belonging to the Parent Board. 

Woman's work comprises boarding-schools for girls and 
day-schools for boys and girls, a projected female hospital, 
and when fully equipped in its several departments will be 
perhaps the most thoroughly organized of any missionary 
work in China. I will observe that these districts have 
been admirably located, and at present only needing the 
necessary reinforcements that have been called for — more 
men for the evangelistic field and more for the schools, all 
of which are now in operation, but lacking the men to meet 
the demand. It has been found that an increase of the 
native preachers is unadvisable, and hence the urgent de- 
mand on home. 

The chief points of difference between our Methodist Mis- 
sion in China and other missions, it occurs to me, may be 
stated as follows : First, its concentration ; second, its thor- 
ough organization ; third, mutual cooperation of all the de- 
partments ; fourth, close alliance between the woman's work 
and Parent Board's work; fifth, its embracement of all 
. classes. I find the high schools, day-schools, and colleges 
patronized by people able to pay ; boarding and day schools 
supported by mission funds — poor people, properly speak- 
ing; orphanage; and lastly the superior equipment in the 
way of buildings, comprising residences, churches, hospitals; 
and finally the class of superior men and women being 



Mission iVork — Anglo-Chinese College. 537 



called to the field. The object of the superintendent being to 
place the work in China on a sound and enduring basis, 
no pains are spared in its thorough equipment, or in its 
qualification of men. 

With such a base for operations, an extended sy;tcm of 
canals radiating in every direction; with cities, towns, and 
villages five to ten miles apart, and four or five cities with 
five hundred thousand to one million inhabitants each, and 
one hundred miles square as level and rich as the Missis- 
sippi Valley — you have a picture presented of the country 
immediately accessible to Shanghai. With a hundred more 
laborers in this promising field, the work most gloriously 
begun and consolidated within a radius of eighty miles, I 
believe a million of souls could soon be won to Christ. 

To give a correct idea of the geographical position of the 
splendid grounds and buildings comprising the Anglo- 
Chinese University, Dr. Allen's and Prof. Iioyall's resi- 
dences, you must walk five minutes north of the Bund, back 
of the American settlement and broadside the English, 
clown a street between high brick walls, and stop. On your 
left are about four acres of ground, on which are erected two 
substantial two-story brick residences, and on the right three 
acres of ground, from which rises in majestic proportions 
the Anglo-Chinese University. This is a large two-story 
brick building, with hall below and recitation-rooms above, 
ornamented in front with magnificent portico and Corin- 
thian columns with capitals. The two lots, including the 
original lot (forty-one mow), about seven acres, cost $38,- 
667 — worth $58,000 at the time of purchase, cash value. 
The Chinese gentleman, a man of immense wealth, gave 
Dr. Allen a reduction of $19,333, and sent him a dozen 
pupils to the college when opened, within the past year. 
There is a center building and a left wing contemplated not 
yet built. Only the right wing is shown in the illustration. 



538 



Around the World in ISSJf.. 




Mission Work — Anglo- Chinese College. 539 

Both English and Chinese are taught in the college, with 
an attendance of two hundred pupils. If the university 
could be completed it would be filled with seven hundred 
to one thousand students. The college is patronized by the 
wealth and nobility of China ; it is self-supporting. And 
when these boys go out into the different provinces they fill 
places of honor and trust, where their power and influence 
will be felt. Twenty per cent, of the boys have become 
Christians. The exercises of each day are opened with 
prayer; Bible-reading and preaching on Sunday, with 
prayer-meeting once a week. These prayer-meetings are 
entirely voluntary, yet I saw Dr. Allen's drawing-rooms 
crowded with Chinese boys, dressed in silk and blue blouses, 
each wearing a cue. A number have professed religion. 
Educate them! educate them! From personal observation 
I declare in my honest judgment this is the key that opens 
the riches of our literature and Christianity to China's idol- 
atrous millions. Educate the Chinaman in the genius and 
spirit of our civilization, and he becomes the dominant factor 
in the East. He learns the name of Jesus and the wealth 
of our Bible, and knowledge is revealed to him. He bears 
the glad tidings to his benighted father and mother. Pie 
fills places of honor and trust at home and abroad. He 
will take the place of the foreigner in his custom-house, 
arsenal, translation department, counting-room, college, 
newspapers — everywhere. China is at present compelled 
to employ foreigners to fill all the offices mentioned. It 
will not be so long. She is now competing with the for- 
eigners in export trade, running merchant lines, banking, 
etc. A number of the boys taught by Dr. Allen are in the 
diplomatic service abroad. Education is our hope in China. 
Hospitals, woman's work, and evangelical work will crown 
our efforts with triumph. 

On several occasions I attended the chapel services with 



540 Around the World in I884. 



Dr. Ailen and Brother Loehr. They had fine audiences 
and attentive listeners. The screen in front of the chapel 
door, the continual going out and coming in of the Chinese, 
as they do in their temple-worship, strike a foreigner with 
curious interest. The blind at the entrance is to prevent the 
idle curiosity of loungers or street pedestrians which would 
mistake the church for a bar-room. They must have thought 
a new missionary had arrived when I occupied a seat, us- 
ually in the pulpit. One night at Little Trinity a well- 
dressed, handsome young Chinaman, after service, ap- 
proached Brother Loehr. I thought we had another con- 
vert But he proposed to join only on conditions — if Brother 
Loehr would recommend him for a position in a mercantile 
house on the Bund! He walked off, looking sorrowful. 
-Hiring them to attend church, giving away tracts, etc., has 
been stopped by our denomination. They now eagerly buy 
ever.y thing in the way of tracts, Bibles, etc., and read them 
when they have to pay money. 

I am sorry space forbids my giving an account of a most 
interesting sermon I heard Dr. Allen preach. It would be 
highly entertaining. 

In conclusion, I want to commend once more the excel- 
lent methods of our work — its concentration and extension 
versus the scatteration tactics so commonly practiced by 
other denominations in China. We want one hundred and 
fifty more missionaries — male and female, lay, clerical, teach- 
ers and preachers — to develop the foundation work that has 
been so wisely laid. We want old Methodism in boats, like 
it was once enthroned on horseback at home — young men 
and ladies of settled convictions, who are willing to work 
awhile and wait before marrying. We must add more to 
our missionary contributions, so that these workers can be 
sent to China. Here is a great responsibility presented be- 
fore our Church and people worthy of their most serious 



Tea Culture caul Tiqffic. 541 

consideration. The time has come when every man is ex- 
pected to do his duty. 

I think one of the most devout and consecrated Chris- 
tians I ever saw is the venerable bung Zeu Kong, Chinese 
director of the Anglo-Chinese College. He is seventy-eight 
years of age, and has been a Christian for forty years. He 
is a very learned man, having translated the ay hole Bible 
into the Chinese language. His mother is still living, nine- 
ty-eight years old. 

CHAPTER LII. 

Cultivation of Tea and its Preparation for Mar- 
ket — Learning the Language. 

CHA is the Chinese for tea. The Province of Fukien 
produces the best black teas. Bohea is the name of the 
hills on which it grows. It is a species of camelia, and bears 
a white flower. The difference in the teas depends on the 
district, the season, the time of gathering, the manipula- 
tion, etc., as I observed passing Foochow. The first or 
spring leaves arc quite tender, and of finer flavor than the 
full-grown summer or coarser leaves of autumn. The plant 
here does not yield its pickings throughout the year as it 
does in Ceylon. One-half pound of dried leaves is the 
product of one bush a year in Fukien. Small farmers and 
the Buddhist priests are the principal growers. The ther- 
mometer rarely falls below forty-four degrees. Black teas 
and green, when not doctored, are really grown on the same 
variety of plants. The tea-plants, ten inches high, one 
year old, come from the seed, which are gathered in Octo- 
ber and kept in sand till spring, then planted in beds. Five 
to six plants are dropped in a hole four feet apart each way, 
made with a long knife. 

The cultivation is with a hoe. The Chinese propagate 



542 



Around the World in 188 Jf. 




THE YOUNG PLANT. 

from cuttings, small twigs, which they plant in trenches and 
then transplant to their gardens, where they grow five feet 
high. Tea-oil is extracted from the seed. Three pickings 
a year in China. The shrub is an evergreen, tenacious of 
life, and grows best with a southern aspect, on thin, gravelly 
hill-sides. 




TRANSPLANTING. 



Tea Culture and Traffic. 543 

Drawings for these illustrations were made by a Chinese 
artist, and are very correct representations. 

After the leaves are gathered and wilted on bamboo 
trays, they are rolled into balls to get the twist in, put 
in kettles or pans under a slow heat over charcoal fires. 
Once heated, they are thrown on a mat, rolled, heated again 
and rolled. Each process is called a firing. 





FIEIXG TEA. 

The first crop of tender leaves makes the finest tea. It 
is sold to the mandarins and wealthy classes at home. Rus- 
sia gets the second best overland, England the third, and 
America — well, I am sorry to say, but I believe she gets the 
grounds the Chinese fire over again, colored with Prussian 
blue (poison) gypsum, and packed in with their feet. Of 
course, some good teas are sold to our country ; but they 
are not the green teas. The Chinese say Americans won't 
buy until they color it green. 

The Chinaman makes his tea by putting the leaves in a 
cup and pouring hot boiling water on, which barely colors 
it. The cups have covers to fit down closely. They use no 
milk or sugar as the foreigners do. In the Chinese stores 



544 



Around the World in 188 ',£. 





PAOltlNG. 



and shops tea is kept on tap. They drink it instead of 
water through the day. Spring water, they say, makes the 
best tea. A chop of tea is six hundred chests. Samples of 
a chop are tested in commission houses in Shanghai by ex- 
perts who taste the different qualities. Each chop is taken 
by the sample. You can buy excellent tea here for twenty- 
five cents per pound, and lower grades cheaper. The crop 
in the interior is transported on men's backs to the canals, 
rivers, and ports, sometimes hundreds of miles. 

Notwithstanding England is her best customer, she gen- 
erally manages to have a balance in trade on opium account 
against China. English ships go twice through the tropics, 
sometimes four months on a voyage, before reaching home. 
Her goods exported in return reach here bound in iron 
hoops and baled in water-proof wrappings. I see it stated 
the Americans have suffered in careless handling, many of 
her cottons being found mildewed on opening, notwithstand- 



Learning the Language. 545 



ing our country enjoys the advantage of a shorter transit. 
Mr. Fred Haskell, of the Japan-China Trading Company, 
one of the leading houses on the Bund, informed me that 
Augusta, Georgia, light cotton sheetings (from Sibley and 
other mills) were preferred to all others by the Chinese. Mr. 
Haskell handles large quantities of these goods. We cannot ' 
grow opium successfully, nor will the Chinese buy whisky 
from us (their samshu is good enough for them), but it occurs 
to me here is one of our greatest markets for the cotton- 
mills of the South. California ships her flour here, and 
Oregon her redwood and other kinds of lumber, at remuner- 
ative prices. Ginseng, kerosene oil, and some other goods, 
are largely exported from San Francisco. The trouble is 
chat China produces nearly all she wants at home, and can 
throw all nations, except England, in her debt. 

Somebody has said the Chinese language was the inven- 
tion of the . I have been in Shanghai a week, and 

have not been able as yet to speak one word of this out- 
landish tongue. 

Tom Benton, of Texas, once remarked that the Chinese 
had a very expressive language. " What is there expressive 
about it?" asked his mother-in-law, who is an incessant 
talker. " Take the word ' ken,' for instance." " What 
does 'ken' mean?" "It means several things. In the first 
place, it means a female mouth. Another meaning of ' ken ' 
is a gate. In short, any thing that is everlastingly opening 
and shutting is called 'ken.'" — Texas Si/tings. 

I wanted to pay my respects to the Chinese editor, the 
heaviest w T riter on the Shanghai press. Brother Loehr had 
kindly proffered to introduce me, and when we entered the 
sanctum he raised his immense goggles and came near bow- 
ing me out the door before I could say a word. I finally 
recovered from my discomfiture and bowed him back. 
Brother Loehr informed him I was a member of the Ainer- 
35 



546 Around the World in I884. 

ican press. He shook my hand most cordially, extend- 
ing us a fraternal greeting. It gave him much gratifi- 
cation and pleasure, he said, to meet an American jour- 
nalist. Mr. Earnest Major, the English manager, then 
showed me through the press-rooms. The pig-tails were 
running up and down ladders, getting a character here 
and there out of cases to set some copy. These were metal 
types, or characters, which were being cut or made by hand in 
the office. Mr. Major presented me specimens of the differ- 
ent publications and a copy of the Pekin Gazette. The car- 
toons in the illustrated editions represented the French re- 
treating in every direction before the victorious armies of 
the Government. Some great battles and fearful slaughters 
of the enemy's troops in Tonquin were represented. But 
the French declared the Chinese had advanced backward 
and retreated on them. Sometimes a fort or line of battle 
was being carried by the Chinese at the point of the bay- 
onet, and then great numbers of the enemy were captured 
or slain. They seemed to understand the art usually prac- 
ticed by Western nations of recording nothing but victo- 
ries. 

The Pekin Gazette (official paper) is the oldest in the 
world. It is one thousand years old. I had presumed it 
was about the size of the Savannah Weekly Neius or Ma- 
con Weekly Telegraph; but I found its dimensions to rival a 
napkin. It contains only the official proclamations of the 
Imperial Government at Pekin. Mr. Major informs me 
about one in every fifteen of the population reads a news- 
paper. Every town and city publishes its cheap books, 
from one to five cents each, which furnish the masses with 
various styles of literature. The Chinese, as I have ob- 
served, are a reading people. But they are fond of what is 
old, while we like to read Avhat is new. 

One day our party, consisting of Dr. Allen, Sir John, 



Birds, Animals, Fruits, Minerals. 



547 




ONE OF THE ARISTOCRACY. 



Misses Muse and Allen, visited a large reeling-factory of 
silk cocoons. We were too late to see it in operation. It 
is French, I believe, employing a large force of Chinese 
girls. The machinery, of the most approved model, was all 
imported from Europe. 

Returning, I bought specimens of Ningpo carving, repre- 
senting a sampan, buffalo cow, palanquin, etc. The people 
of Ningpo are here in large numbers engaged in this 
branch of art, for which their town is so celebrated. At 
one house I saw camphor-wood coffins piled high, as if the 
undertaker did a large business. 

The ornithology and zoology of China present many in- 
teresting objects for study. There are the hawk, owl — 
screech and large owls; eagles, falcons, and king-fish- 
ers; the raven — that ubiquitous crow; the jackdaw (no 
buzzards), magpie, jay, turtle-dove, pigeon — both com- 
mon and carrier. The natives tie a whistle on the car- 



548 Around the World in 18SJ/.. 

rier-pigeon's back to know where he is. As the pigeon flies 
against the wind the whistle may be heard a great distance. 

Dr. Allen and I were sitting in his garden one morning 
near a pretty lakelet, where a number of beautiful birds 
were observed flying or hopping around us on the grass. 
-Among these was the minor I had seen in India. But the 
lark, O the heavenly lark! which Amelia Welby, of Ken- 
tucky, has sung into immortality, is here. Watch him as 
he nestles in the grass ; now up he soars, higher and higher, 
singing as he goes, into the blue vaulted dome of heaven. 
Poising on his tiny wings, he pours forth his musical notes 
in ecstatic joy; but exhausted, folds his wings and drops to 
the ground. 

The minor, like the cuckoo, lays its eggs in other birds' 
nests. The Chinese call the cuckoo tsna-kingdian, because 
it calls out to the husbandman to hurry up the plowman. 
The canary is bred in large numbers, and sings beautifully. 
Of game birds we find the bustard (size of a turkey), golden 
and silver pheasants — perfect beauties — and common pheas- 
ant, which often measures three feet from head to tail. 
These birds are found in large numbers; also grouse and 
quail. This quail is a different bird from the Georgia 
partridge, being somewhat smaller. Then there are the 
swan, goose, and duck, both domesticated and wild. Snipe 
and woodcocks are migratory birds, as with us — appear 
here spring and autumn. Among the animals there are the 
bactrian, the camel, horses, sheep, goats, hogs, buffalo cat- 
tle, Mongolian ponies, and mules larger than horses. The 
dogs in China, like those in India and Egypt, appear to 
belong to the wolf species. There is a long-haired, pug- 
nosed dog called the St. Charles — a lap-dog. The court 
ladies of Pekin carry in their sleeves a little pet dog weigh- 
ing about a pound when grown. This species is a royal 
monopoly. 



Birds, Animals, Fruits, Minerals. 549 

Dr. Allen has traveled in Mongolia far to the north of 
Pekin and the Great Wall, where he found a shepherd clog 
of immense stature guarding the flocks of those wandering 
Abrahams and Sarahs who move their tents from place to 
place over the boundless plains of Mongolia. These people 
are the Tartars, who never live in houses. China has fox- 
es, badgers, weasels, mongouse, and raccoons, but no opos- 
sums. As I have stated, the marsupials belong to Austra- 
lia, North and South America, being found nowhere else 
on the globe. The Chinese hunt foxes for their fur — not 
for fun; no fun about a Chinaman — all business; also the 
hare and white rabbits. Among the curious game animals 
is the hog-deer — he has a tusk in the upper jaw like a hog; 
and there is a wild boar that grows to five hundred pounds. 
The Englishman's pig-sticking propensities would admit of 
large indulgence in China. Fish are in endless variety; 
all kinds are sold alive in China markets. The carp (a 
native here), bass, perch, sole, cat, and trout, fresh mack- 
erel and salmon, are cultivated in artificial ponds, which 
are easily constructed by turning the water from canals and 
rivers into sinks and depressions. Oysters are very fine. 
The Chinese stick bamboos in the salt w T ater, and to these 
the oysters tenaciously adhere in large numbers. When 
full, the bamboo is pulled up, with a good crop. They 
have crabs, clams, turtles, etc. ; also snakes, scorpions, etc., 
like we have. 

There are four different kinds of oranges most common 
in China, four to six cents per dozen. The mandarin is 
so called because it requires no labor to get at it. The 
Chinese dwarf their fruits, shrubs, and evergreens. The 
mandarin here is the Tangerene of Malta or Africa. The 
coolie orange is so named because it requires labor. It is 
a clear, bright oval, found in the south about Canton, and 
in Cochin China. The persimmon is very large and luscious 



550 Around the World in 1884. 

when ripe. The tree, bark, and leaves are larger, but it is 
evidently the same genus to which our Georgia persimmon 
belongs. 

China has its famines, droughts, and floods like India; 
typhoons instead of cyclones, but they are equally as de- 
structive of life and property. Northern China suffers 
from famine. In 1878, in the province of which Shamsee 
is the center, no less than ten million people starved to 
death, Dr. Allen informs me. There were abundant stores 
of provisions brought to the sea-shore, but the people could 
not reach them. The canals all dried up, the people sold 
every thing, even to their houses, clothing, wives and chil- 
dren. Finally all animal food was exhausted, including 
cats and dogs. Pack mules and horses were eaten up in 
trying to reach Tientsin, where millions of rice and food 
were waiting. Having finally nothing else to eat, they began 
to eat themselves. No country needs railroads worse than 
China. These principal causes may be the means of re- 
ducing the overburdened population, as war, yellow fever, 
cholera, etc., depopulate Europe. But railroads would 
furnish relief, as they have done in India. The more en 
lightened and advanced statesmen of China, represented by 
Le Hung Chung, the present Prime-minister, advocate the 
construction of telegraph lines, raih*oads, colleges, etc. ; to 
meet the pressing demands of the outside world. In the 
past few years China has made most wonderful progress 
in this direction. I learn now that she will introduce ma- 
chinery and European labor to work her coal-mines — may 
be her gold, tin, copper, and inexhaustible resources of iron. 
China is comparatively a new country, with untold mineral 
wealth undeveloped. Her people have learned to work 
gold in California and Australia, coal, iron, etc. These 
new industries once opened up would directly command 
her own skilled labor in these countries. The Chinese peo- 



China's Future Position. 551 



pie are the most intellectual in the East, but they have 
done nothing scarcely of themselves, except manufacture 
and till the soil. They have made many very wonderful 
discoveries, but hardly perfected any thing. They discov- 
ered the compass, and only navigated from one headland 
to another; they discovered gunpowder, and never until a 
few years ago made any thing but fire-crackers to pop; 
they discovered stone and block printing, and still stick to 
their slow and crude methods. 

England is already inside of her doors, and Eussia is 
knocking at her northern gates. This outside pressure is 
forcing China to adopt new methods and ignore her anti- 
quated customs, as they now fail to meet the demands upon 
her. Railroads soon built will solve the question. She 
has several telegraph lines in operation. But China is the 
only country around the world, except Palestine and a few 
islands in the Pacific, which has not already built railroads. 
Even Java and Japan have splendid lines ; Australia, and 
I believe the Sandwich Islands, Mexico, Central and South 
America — the whole world except China — have railroads. 
In many respects China resembles America — her coast-line, 
physical characteristics, climate, soil, and productions be- 
ing very nearly similar. Geographically, we ought to com- 
mand a large trade from her fertile shores, and be her good 
neighbor. In event of war with Russia/ China will find 
England her strongest ally. These moral forces and outside 
pressure, we maintain, must solve for China her future po- 
sition anions: nations. 



552 Around the World in IS84. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

Pigeon English Poetry — Things Worth Knowing. 

WE have stated that our Bible has recently been pub- 
lished in pigeon English. It forms the colloquial lan- 
guage of the Chinese in the sea-port cities and towns along the 
coast. Even the Europeans have been compelled to learn 
it; and a late arrival at Shanghai of the American war- 
ship "Ossipee" has developed a pigeon English poet. The 
following amusing couplets, never before published, were 
contributed to this book by Dr. Russell, surgeon of the 
"Ossipee," through Dr. Allen. Dr. Russell is a Georgian, 
and a son of Professor J. B. Russell, of Fort Valley. The 
arrival of the man-of-war, its booming guns ; the Chinaman 
going out in his sampan to meet it; his joy over "plentee 
pidgin," plenty business; meeting the sailor, doing his tai- 
loring for him ; the sailor getting drunk on shore aud look- 
ing for the Chinaman, are all well described by the Chinese 
poet: 

HI-YAH, CUMSHA (BACKSHISH). 

I Tune : " O Susanna, do n't you cry for me." 

One fine day, as my sittee inee shop, 

Hi-yah, cumsha. 
Hear big ship guns makee noise, pop, pop, 
Likee nmchee cumsha me; 
Pickee upee sam-poo, makee likee see, 

Hi-yah, cumsha. 
Mellican war-junk, " Ossipee," 
Likee muchee cumsha me. 

Chorus. Hi-yah for da Mellican ship, 
Catchee plentee dollar for me ; 
Catchee plentee pidgin allee day long, 
War-junk " Ossipee." 



Tilings Worth Knowing About China. 553 

Big sailor man makee muchee chin-chin, 

Hi-yah, curnsha. 
Makee sailor clothes, butee no fitee him, 
Likee muchee cumsha me ; 
Clothes no fitee, my no care, 

Hi-yah, cumsha. 
Makee for to sellee, no makee for to wear, 
Likee muchee cumsha me. 

Big sailor man come ashore for a spree, 

Hi-yah, cumsha. 
Dlinkee plentee liquor, den he lookee for me, 
Likee muchee cumsha me. 
Lun vellee hard, but he catchee bime-by, 

Hi-yah, cumsha. 
Makee muchee barbar punchee inee eye, 
Likee muchee cumsha me. 



As I find it impossible to describe but a few things, I 
have prepared the remainder of this chapter, from careful 
study, about facts worth knowing. For it is not generally- 
known : 

That the Chinese civilization is the oldest in the world. 

That China is the most densely populated country. 

That it is the oldest empire on earth. 

That its history is unbroken for three thousand years. 

That one dynasty ruled eight hundred years. 

That China is mentioned in the book of Isaiah. 

That a colony of Jews settled on Yellow River before 
Christ was born. 

That Confucius hinted at a "holy one who was to come 
in the West." 

That a commission was sent by the Chinese Government 
to ascertain who this holy man was. 

That this commission was met by the Buddhist priest in 
India and turned back. Buddha was the holy man, they 



554 Around the World in 188 '4. 



they were looking for. In this way the religion of 
Buddha, instead of Christ, was introduced into China. 

That silk was first woven in China. 

That the Empress spun and wove silk before Christ was 
bora. 
> That all the people once dressed in silk. 

That the Chinese discovered paper. 

That China, India, Persia, and Arabia traded with each 
other before the Romans invaded Britain. 

That Solomon knew of China. 

That they first wrote books on bamboo. 

That in the year 95 they discovered the art of making 
paper from bamboo. 

That they wrote with camel-hair pens from blocks of ink. 

That China comes from Tsin — a silk-worm. 

That the mulberry and silk-worm were cultivated during 
the reign of Great Yu-yu, B.C. 2205. 

That two Nestorian monks, in the sixth century, stole the 
eggs of the silk-worm, concealed them in a bamboo, and 
brought them to Constantinople — from which silk culture 
first originated in Greece and Europe, during Justinian's 
reign. 

That porcelain was first made in China in 1000 A.D. 

That the Chinese first invented the art of printing on 
stone, five hundred years before it was known in Europe. 

That the Chinese first made fans and umbrellas. 

That a Chinese boy, in the Anglo-Chinese University, 
remarked that "that word did not make the same noise 
(sound) as the other." 

That they first established the feudal system. 

That Genghis and Kublai Khan nearly conquered Europe 
in the thirteenth century. 

That the Chinese invented the mariner's compass before 
our Saviour was born. 



Tilings Worth Knowing About China. 555 

That they discovered the magnetic needle. 

That they first made gunpowder. 

That Confucius was born 550 B.C., and was one of the 
wisest of men. 

That Kublai Khan built Pekin, and the Great Canal one 
thousand miles long. It required one hundred and seventy 
thousand men many years to construct it. 

That the Chinese Wall is one thousand five hundred 
miles long, built two hundred and fifty years before Christ 
was born, to keep the Tartars out. 

That the Tartars conquered China by military power. 

That the Chinese conquered the Tartars by their superior 
civilization. 

That passports existed in China before they were known 
in Europe. 

That the Chinese practiced medicine like the English, at 
the same time, eight hundred years ago. 

That the Chinese can calculate without figures better than 
we can with them. 

That they first cultivated tea. 

That cotton, called nankeen, was first grown in China. 

That cultivating fish and hatching eggs by artificial meth- 
ods was first practiced by the Chinese and Egyptians. 

That the Chinese write from top to bottom. 

That they hang their sign-boards up and down. 

That they make all the gongs and fire-crackers. 

That they make rice-paper from bamboo. 

That they spell a whole letter of our language with a 
character of their own. 

That they discovered the principles of the telephone 
nearly two hundred years ago, and called it a thousand- 
mile speaker. 

That the boys play shuttle-cock and fly kites in China. 

That they have seventeen-year locusts in China. 



556 Around the World in I884. 

That a Chinaman can marry a dozen wives. 

That they all crave the birth of boys. 

That the Chinese put their tombs or monuments in houses. 

That they sell their daughters for presents. 

That one Chinaman kills another by committing suicide 
on his neighbor's door-steps. 

That they fish with cormorants, nets, and bamboo-pens. 

That a policeman catches a rogue by beating a gong to 
scare him. 

That the thief generally gets away. 

Chinaman says: "You Mellican man very dirty folks; 
you always having your ciothes washed." 

The Chinese dress in white for mourning, instead of black. 

The foreigners have go-downs in Shanghai to store goods 
in, and the Chinese have pawn-brokers' shops to keep their 
valuables in. 

A Chinaman hardly ever laughs. 

The old folks make the matches for their children when 
they are quite young. 

The Chinese celebrate many pretty festivals, like those of 
the lanterns, boats, etc. 

They have no coined money, except copper mills, with 
holes through them — eleven to one cent. 

Every thing in China is bought by taels — a tael is one dol- 
lar and thirty-three cents of our money, equal to an ounce 
of pure silver. One sycee equals three pounds of fine sil- 
ver. Gold ingots are valued at seventeen times as much 
more. Every dollar sent to China from America gains 
eleven cents in value. 

That the English have banks in all Chinese sea-ports. 

That the Chinese put their stamps on Mexican silver dol- 
lars, to show they are genuine — called chop dollars. 

That they make their long cues with black silk braid. 

That they have eighty different kinds of vegetables. 



Last Days in Shanghai 557 



That they have just translated our Bible into pigeon 
English. 

That China never borrowed a dollar until this year (for 
the Franco-Chinese war). 

That the Mandarin is the court dialect. 

That different provinces speak different dialects. 

That the Chinese are a most wonderful people. 



CHAPTER LIV. 

1/Ast Days in Shanghai — Departure for Japan. 

OUR last days in Shanghai were the pleasantest of them 
all. Sir John had been with us in several of our ram- 
bles. He too had become endeared to Dr. Allen by fre- 
quent manifestations of kindness at his hospitable home. 
We had passed many delightful hours in the exquisite gar- 
dens of the European Park, amidst its parterres of rare 
flowers and charming music. Whom should we remember 
but Dr. Allen for the many pleasant days and good friends 
we had made in Shanghai? 

The evening before our departure a most brilliant recep- 
tion was tendered a small party by Mr. Fred. Haskell and 
lady at their palatial home on the Bund. It was just charm- 
ing! The beauty of the ladies was queenly, and the munifi- 
cent hospitality of our host would have excited the envy of 
an European prince. In the drawing-rooms were many 
specimens of antique art, and upon the walls hung a fine 
collection of paintings. Among the honored guests were 
Mandarin Allen, Sir John R. G. Sinclair, Lieut. Gilmer 
of the United States flag-ship "Trenton," and the ladies. 
The music was delicious — and* such singing! One of our 
ladies had played before Albert Victor, the eldest son of 
the Prince of Wales. She also played before us. This was 



558 



Around the World in 188 J/. 




CHINESE SERVANT. 

a little remarkable. But the menu Avas more noticeable 
still. Here were rare dishes and choice viands worthy of 
Delmonico's ambition. There Avas nothing wanting to make 
that evening memorable. Mr. Haskell is one of the mer- 
chant princes of Shanghai, Avho captm*ed one of Georgia's 
queenly women Avhen he won the heart of Miss Margaret 
Houston. She is the sister of Mrs. Dr. Young J. Allen, 
who Avill be well remembered about NeAvnan, Ga. 

Early on the fourth morning of June Ave were accom- 
panied on board the Japanese steamer " Mitshu Bishi " by 
Dr. Allen and Mr. Haskell. We had received cordial 
tidings from the Chinese director, one or tA\ r o native preach- 
ers, Prof. Royall, dear Dr. Lambuth and his estimable Avife, 
Bro. Anderson at Suchow, and the venerable Dr. MattheAV 



Arrival in Japan. 



559 



Yates of the Baptist Mission, from North Carolina, whom I 
had met at Dr. Allen's home. Mr. Haskell had kindly pre- 
sented us letters to his houses in Nagasaki and Yokohama, 
where we should receive courtesies that had distinguished our 
stay in Shanghai. As we floated down the Wusung, among 
thousands of junks and sampans, our friends stood waving 
us final adieus. At last one handkerchief only was visible, 
signaling us its love and prayers. It was Dr. Allen's. In 
a few hours we turned across the mouth of the Yang-tse 
River into the Yellow Sea, with the coast range of mountains 
visible all day on our left. Ninety miles from Shanghai 
we passed the famous Saddle Rocks, or islands, one of 
which is shaped much like a saddle. 




I AM THE CAPTAIN OP THIS BOAT. THEREBY HANGS A TAIL. 



Early next morning we approached, through a narrow 
inlet, the city of Nagasaki, one of the most picturesque and 
interesting cities in Japan. A fort, en barbette, commands the 
magnificent approaches to the land-locked harbor. Before 
us rises the Island of Pappenberg, a memorable spot in the 
history of Christian persecution several hundred years ago 



560 Around the World in 188 % 



in Japan. Twenty thousand men, women, and children 
were hurled from the lofty cliffs above us upon the rocks 
below, which is hardly a cable's length from us. There is 
no monument to mark the spot, but these gray cliffs will 
stand as an everlasting memorial to the martyred dead. 
On our right we pass the foreign residences, extending up 
the mountain-slopes by terraced walks. Before us lies 
Nagasaki, with its streets of shops and wooden houses ex- 
tending up its matchless harbor. It is but a mile across, 
with lofty mountains rising all around it, four miles from 
the sea. The mountains are terraced from the water's edge 
to their lofty summits — strips of golden grain variegated 
with other crops of green. Around us swarm the sampans, 
with another nation sculling instead of rowing. But they 
are different people from the Chinese. 

Japan is a small country, but it is the gem of the Orient. 
It consists of a group of islands— Yesso, Niphon, Kiusiu, 
and Sikok being the four largest. There are hundreds of 
smaller ones — yes, thousands, probably — some inhabited 
and others the habitations of numberless aquatic fowls. The 
most fertile are the last named, with a dense population. 
In its physical aspects Japan resembles Italy or Great Brit- 
ain, with its beautiful mountains and fertile vales. It lies 
between the thirtieth and fortieth parallels, cooler in the 
summer than the United States, and warmer in winter. 
Tokio, or Yedo, is its present capital — the whole country 
boasting of thirty-five million inhabitants. All these isl- 
ands are of volcanic origin. The disintegrated lava, flow- 
ing down their mountain-sides for ages past, has made them 
very rich. 

Marco Polo speaks of Japan in his travels in Cathay. 

Genghis Khan, of Tartary, fitted out a naval expedition 
against Zipanza in 1260 and was wrecked off its coast; but 
in 1542 the Portuguese discovered the country. Francis 



Arrival in Japan. 561 



Xavier, a Portuguese priest, reached Goa in India and 
pushed on to Malacca, where he met a Japanese named 
Angrio, a Christian convert, who with Xavier arrived in 
this city in 1549. This missionary Jesuit, having adopted 
plans, died on his return voyage to China. Nagasaki was 
the first trading port opened in the country in 1558. Chris- 
tianity under the Catholics spread rapidly; but in 1587 a 
new Tycoon came into power, and declared Japanese should 
rule Japan. Then they began to put the Christians to the 
stake, hang them on trees, and throw them down precipices 
by the thousands. In 1618 the last Jesuit was expelled 
from the country. The Portuguese driven out, the Dutch 
came in, and their trade and people were confined to a small 
island called Djesima, in front of Nagasaki. They made no 
effort to introduce religion. All this occurred during a 
period of religious zeal that inspired all of Europe toward 
the discovery of new countries and the propagation of the 
gospel. 

To its political history, mythological and otherwise, we 
can barely allude — only to its prominent phases. The Mi- 
kado, like the Emperor of China, claimed divine origin — 
descended from the gods. Then came the Shogun (Shong- 
un), who ruled in the name of the divine man. But the 
Shogun's power became hereditary about seven hundred and 
fifty years ago, and has continued, with short intervals of 
war, revolution, etc., down to 1868. This Shogunate was 
represented during this long period by three powerful fam- 
ilies — the Hojo, Taira, and Tokugawa. Iyeyasu, the wisest 
prince of his times, headed the line. From 1598 to 1868, 
the Government once organized with wisdom and sagacity, 
the country enjoyed a period of tranquillity and prosperity 
nearly three hundred years, down to 1868, or the Revolu- 
tion. During the Shogunate's rule the people divided up 
into classes that brought on Avars, which produced the 
36 



502 Around the World in 1881,.. 

samuri, or soldier class, "who were supported at public cost, 
under dairaios, or districts. The samuri became the daimois 
(or lords of the land) retainers, out of which grew a feudal 
system similar to that practiced during the Middle Ages of 
Europe. Then there were the common people at the mercy 
of both. The Shoguns kept the Mikado out of reach of the 
people. He was too sacred to be approached; but in his 
name and fear they could govern the people. But now the 
Mikado, having always been nominal, wanted to be the 
actual ruler. 

The United States Government, it seems, furnished the 
provocation that developed into a crisis. The Japanese had 
been a seclusive people for two hundred years — prejudiced 
against all foreigners. But this jealousy Avas brought about 
by political intrigue against the Government by the Jesuits 
(Catholics) here, just as it was done in China. That brought 
on the bloody persecution of Christians to which I have al- 
luded. "Down with such people! We don't want your 
Christianity," said the Government; and Christianity was 
kept out for two hundred years. 

In 1849 the discovery of gold in California brought 
America face to face with Japan. Accordingly in 1853 
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, with the United States 
Navy, steamed into the harbor of Yedo, opened negotia- 
tions with the Shoguu, whose capital Avas here, Avhile the 
Mikado's Avas at Kioto, some two hundred miles distant. 
The Shogun called himself the Ti-kun — Ave called him Ty- 
coon. This assumed titled monarch usurped imperial pow- 
ers, proposing to treat Avith Commodore Perry. This brought 
the Tycoon, or Shogunate, into a conflict Avith the Mikado, 
Avho Avas only a boy. But the men Avho had created the 
Evolution took possession of the young Mikado, removed 
him from Kioto to Yedo, changed the name to Tokio, or 
Eastern Capital. Then the revolution of 1868 began in 



Arrival in Japan. 563 



earnest. A new government must be organized on a basis 
to treat with foreign powers. Embassadors were to be ap- 
pointed and received, treaties to be made, and an army 
created (the French model was adopted) , a navy was to be 
built — Englishmen were selected to do it ; railroads were to be 
constructed — Englishmen were imported to do this; an edu- 
cational system was to be adopted — Americans must do that. 
In short, the feudal system having been abolished, the 
daimios, or lords, were compelled to surrender their territo- 
ries and revenues to the Government, which retired them 
on a pension. Every daimio then, with his family, moved 
to the capital. 

The young Mikado changed all. He made the dependent 
the freemen, and the feudal rulers the subordinates. He 
made men freeholders in perpetual tenure of their lands. 
He insured as great protection to life and property as may 
be enjoyed. His code of laws he modeled after those of 
England and the United States, establishing a sufficient 
judiciary. He gathered about him broad, sound, and pro- 
gressive counselors. He rules an empire already having 
five hundred miles of railroad, five thousand miles of tele- 
graph wire, unsurpassed postal facilities, with a postal sav- 
ings-bank system worthy of imitation in this country. He 
has built a navy, and can repair ships with the best, As 
great as what he has accomplished, if not greater, is what 
he has proclaimed he proposes to do; and that is, in 1890 
to convert his empire into a constitutional empire, with 
a parliament exercising the delegated authority of the peo- 
ple. What a wonderful change is this to have been effected 
in seventeen years ! — the consolidation of the Government, 
the appointment of governors over the provinces, collection 
of revenues, etc. The immense expense incurred in build- 
ing railroads, telegraph lines, organizing armies, navy, ar- 
senals, navy-yards, supporting foreigners as instructors and 



564 Around the World in I884. 

the daimios on pensions, has necessarily involved the Gov- 
ernment in a national debt. But her railroads are profita- 
ble; even the line of ships we travel on from Shanghai 
must be a source of great revenue. Then the tax on rice- 
lands — five or six dollars per acre — with other revenues, 
will eventually, it is supposed, enable the Government to 
pay oft" the retired nobility at once. 

Such is a brief historical sketch of this wonderful people 
and land. 

Among the j>ractical results already attained may be 
mentioned the establishment of English schools and col- 
leges; the translation of our text-books into the Japanese 
language, and their adoption in hundreds of schools and 
abandoned Buddhist temples; the education abroad in 
America and Europe of thousands of Japanese boys and 
girls ; the observance of our Sabbath by Government offi- 
cials ; the encouragement given to missionaries ; the rapid 
conversion of her people — several thousand Protestants and 
eighty thousand Catholic adherents; the appearance of the 
Mikado on the streets of Tokio ; and the hospitable welcome 
of European people. 

At the sea-ports you see many Japanese wearing straw 
hats and our shoes (the custom of shaving their heads is 
fast disappearing in the sea-port towns) ; but our clothing is 
too expensive in comparison to their costumes, which cost 
from fifty cents to six dollars each. The first is cotton, and 
the last is the price for silk goods. While not so convenient, 
I think their costume is a handsomer one than ours. They 
use ice, and buy many American and European goods. 
Their exports go into the millions — principally lacquer, silk, 
and tea. 



Japanese People, House?, and Customs. 



565 



CHAPTER LV. 

Description of the People, Houses, etc. 

IN the harbor we see three Russian men-of-war, three Ger- 
man, English, and American frigates. Here is an osten- 
tatious display of yards, sails, frowning batteries, and men 
on board, as if they were on dress-parade. "We miss the 
eyes in our sampan, which wears an air of cleanly comfort 
without the usual paint of the Chinese boat. On shore a 




JINRIKISHA — THE WAY AVE TRAVEL IN JAPAN. 



dozen jinrikishas are awaiting our arrival. The men are a 
trifle shorter, but stouter, than the Chinese — all bottom and 
muscle. They are more neatly dressed, wearing a broad- 
brim hat, straw shoes, and tights, with a loose blouse falling 
below their hips. Somebody has said it looks like the 



>m 



Around the World in I884. 



Japanese coolie has been " melted and poured into his trou- 
sers." They open at the bottom. We select two of the best 
trotters for a dash up the Bund. In a few minutes we 
reach the fish-market, where we see the people, early in the 
morning, going and returning with their purchases. The 
fish are all sold at auction. Every variety, in baskets or 
spread on the paved court, may be seen in Nagasaki. Great 




TEMPLE TO THE GODDESS OF THE SUN. 



sharks, dolphin, mackerel, skate-fish, (seen in Naples), gold- 
en bream, devil-fish, crabs with distended arms several feet 
long, sprawn, octopus, eels alive, dog-fish, etc. 

We saw black, sleek bullocks bearing their burdens, wear- 
ing straw shoes. We visited a Sintoo temple, up terraced 
steps of stone, one hundred feet high on a mountain-slope. 
In the court below was a torii, or gate-way, made of stone. 
Pilgrims for a hundred miles visit these shrines to cast in a 
few coppers as an offering to some god, which seems to con- 
stitute their only act of worship. 

Here Buddha is worshiped, as in China, the religion hav- 



Japanese People, Houses, and Customs. 567 

ing been introduced here in the sixth century from China 
and Corea. But in its new home it appears to have been 
modified, forming into several sects. 

The tea-garden is an invariable adjunct to the shrine or 
temple. Tea without milk or sugar, with cakes and candy 
— pretty girls, with pearly teeth and olive complexions, to 
wait on us— their plump figures and raven tresses equally 
as charming as their silk dresses. Approaching us, these 
girls set their waiters upon the floor, bowing three times, 
saying with a winsome smile, "Ohayo gozarimas" — You 
have come quickly, sirs. We said nothing. Their jet-black 
hair was combed back in waves, with pretty ornaments for 
decoration. They wore their panniers or bustles behind, 
with their dresses crossed in front, rather low. Their skirts 
fell in graceful profusion above sandaled feet. They were 
anxious to talk with us, and seemed rather coquettishly in- 
clined. We bowed, laughed, and drank tea — Sir John re- 
ceiving more bows than I; and when we parted with each 
pretty maiden, our hearts all felt so heavy-laden! 

I have seen a number of women with blackened teeth 
and plucked eyebrows — hideous monsters! I wondered 
what they do that for. "Married women," the guide said. 
Afraid somebody would fall in love with them ! My sainted 
grandfather! give me the nightmare, or banish me into 
exile forever! Some other man except her husband, eh! 
The ladies do n't do that way in Christian countries. Some 
of them will spend hours before a looking-glass to catch some 
other fellow. These customs are perpetuated in honor of a 
princess who was very beautiful, but devoted to her hus- 
band ; she did not desire to be more attractive to other men's 
eyes than his own. Now all wives follow her example. We 
see people bathing together as we walk along the streets. 
We visited curio-shops — a beautiful crockery-house, near 
the Island of Djesima, where egg-shell china, crackel-ware, 



568 



Around the World in IS84. 




ONLY MY HUSBAND. 



and painted porcelain, glittered and vied in every style and 
color. Here were vases worth a thousand dollars, tea-sets 
hundreds more, and full service at fabulous prices. 

The tortoise-shell house and manufacture interested us 
very much. Here we saw the artisans deftly working into 
beautiful creations of art the crude material of the shell. 
They use hot water for bending, and little tools for polish- 
ing, shaping, etc. I saw jinrikishas, paper-cutters, specta- 
cle-cases, sampans, and even minature ships, made out of 
tortoise shell. The 3 r oung man brought us sandals in ex- 
change for our shoes, left at the door — his floors were beau- 
tifully matted. The shops are all open in front, but closed 
at night by movable sliding-doors. Another screen divides 
the shop from the parlor. On the shelves we saw lacquered 
ware, tea-trays, fans, and carved ivory, etc. ; sometimes dry 
goods, then groceries, tin, copper, willow-ware, charming 
Arima baskets, exquisite art. An interesting sight was the 



Japanese People, Houses, and Customs. 569 

family dining. Here were pots, pans, saucers, and tea-cups, 
sitting about. The houses in Japan have no chimneys as in 
China. The cooking is done on a brazier, sometimes in 
front and then in the rear of the house. Places are made 
for the utensils to set in (clay furnaces), with a place for 
coal fires underneath. An open space, dirt floor, is observ- 
able in every house, which serves as a passage. Platform 
floors, raised two or three feet higher, are generally covered 
with matting. Shoes are left, as described, at the door, 
in entering a Japanese house. The family, bare-headed and 
often without shoes, sit cross-legged around little trays, us- 
ing chop-sticks, picking up a bit of fish, rice, etc. The men 
shave the crown of their heads backward, and tie the hair 
from either side on top in a knot, bringing it forward and 
dropping the end over. Even little boys five years old, 
with their heads dressed like their fathers, are observed 
adopting the style and manners of their parents. All the 
family eat together. 

The houses are of wood (not painted), one to one and a 
half story high in Nagasaki. They make their windows 
out of transparent rice-paper. A door is divided off into 
little squares and covered with this thin rice-paper. There 
is no furniture of any kind — only matted floors and cush- 
ions to sit on. The bed-clothes, matting, and wooden pillows 
used in sleeping are folded up and kept in closets during 
the day. So a Japanese house is open in front, with no 
rooms at all. But when night comes on, these houses are 
converted into passages and bed-rooms in a few minutes by 
running out from their hiding-places these movable screens or 
doors. When we want a servant, we clap our hands for him. 

The Japanese are extremely polite at their houses, and 
invariably serve you with a cup of tea, as a mark of hospi- 
tality. It is always polite to sip it, whether you want it 
or not. 



•70 Around the World in 1884. 



Our letter introducing us to Mr. Rogers, of the China- 
Japan Trading Company, was doubly appreciated when we 
became acquainted with the head of the Nagasaki house. 
His charming bungalow, picturesquely situated a thousand 
feet above the sea, looked out of a pretty garden amidst 
playing fountains upon the bay and terraced slopes beyond. 

We had English pease, lettuce, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, 
fine roasts, fish, devil-crabs, puddings, and strawberries and 
cream, for dinner. Among the invited guests were Gen- 
eral Jones and lady, of Virginia — American Consul here — 
Sir John, Judge Flanders and Judge Wilkins, of St. Paul* 
Minnesota. The latter gentleman had just reached Japan 
on a voyage around the world. 

Here were the Japan plum (Biwa), pine-tree, magnolia, 
cherry, peach, orange (dwarf seedless), China-tree, fig, and 
bamboo, growing in Mr. Rogers's gardens. Mr. Rogers's 
beautiful wife (American) and Mrs. Jones did the honors 
in the most charming style. 

Oranges grow as high as thirty-four degrees north latitude 
in Japan, even where the snow falls several feet deep. It 
is thought the morning sun kills the bud, when frozen, in 
these high latitudes, as in California. 

Lovely azelias, roses, ferns, camelias, box-wood, cedars, 
etc., flourish in Japan. The raspberries and strawberries 
are very fine. Barley and bearded wheat are most univer- 
sally grown. 

We left Nagasaki on the 6th of June, sailing up a pict- 
uresque coast all day, until we reached Bekan, Si-mo-na- 
sa-ki — entrance to the Inland Sea. On our left is a long 
town of wooden houses. A curious rock rising out of the 
ocean presented a natural gate-way on our voyage to-day. 
It is God's own marvelous creation. The Inland Sea is the 
great water passage between Niphon and Kiusiu. This 
wonderful sea, studded with its thousands of little islands,. 



Japanese People, Houses, and Custom*. 



571 



stretches two hundred and forty miles, to Kobe, and is prob- 
ably ten miles wide. The scenery is remarkably fine, being 
mountains, and often terraced to their very tops, visible on 
either side. The tortuous channel through which we thread 
our way surprised us with revelations of the grandest 
views — sometimes a white sand-hill, resembling a mountain 
of snow. This Inland Sea is crowded with sampans, steam- 




A NATURAL GATE-WAY. 

ers, and junks. In case of a squall their square topsails can 
be dropped in a lump. Dr. Hendrix observed that the sails 
come down like the people drop, " all in a heap." We can 
see the villages on shore, with their fishing-smacks, patches 
of wheat, long radishes and turnips — the green alternating 
with the gold ; the ground being forced under high culture 
and manure to produce its crop of beans, cotton, or vegeta- 
bles—often two or three crops a year. 



572 Around Hie World in 188 4. 

Each village has its grave-yard too on the hill-sides, where 
reluctant nature has refused to respond to the toiling labor- 
er's hand. When they bury their dead they dress in white 
for mourning, and usually bury at sunset. They love the 
living and reverence the dead ; but do not worship as the 
Chinese in every respect, although Coufucius has left a deep 
impression on these people. They decorate their graves with 
flowers as Ave do. Two bamboo joints are placed to hold 
the loving offerings each day. They bury in jars, in a sit- 
ting posture, as Avell as in camphor coffins. 

In the dim distance Ave see Kobe gleaming above a low 
coast-line. Away in the background rise lofty mountains. 
Hiogo is the native tOAvn, Avhile Kobe adjoining is the Eu- 
ropean city. Here are banks, post-office, telegraph office, 
hotels, neAVspaper offices, great export houses, etc. Mrs. 
Appleton, a Virginian, like many of our missionaries in 
China, has come up to Japan for her health. She is a very 
pretty little Avoman, with a SAveet little cherub in her arms, 
upon Avhose mother's cheeks Ave hope Japan Avill paint the 
roses that have faded away in Shanghai. 

We could go by water up the bay to Osaka, but the 
tempting jinrikisha and railroad are too near at hand. 
Here is the first railroad Ave have seen since leaving Ceylon. 
It is one of the finest I ever saAV. The heavy steel rails, 
laid in solid ballast, Avith first, second, and third class 
coaches, station-houses of brick, waiting-rooms, and booking 
offices, are decidedly English in their personal aspects. The 
rules and regulations are the same, Avith Japanese officers, 
conductors, and engineers. This splendid line connects 
Osaka, twenty-one miles, Avith Kioto, twenty-three miles 
beyond. 

Osaka is the Venice of Japan (four hundred and thirty 
thousand inhabitants), Avith its hundreds of canals and 
bridges ; a city of temples, pagodas, curio-shops, stores, man- 



Japanese People, Houses, and Customs. 573 

ufactures, and native hotels; celebrated for its old castle, 
the new city hall, mint, and splendid depot. Its stores are 
filled with goods, which can be easily replenished from the 
wholesale houses, called go-downs. It is a primitive Japa- 
nese city, a great commercial place, being connected with 
Kobe by the bay, or water navigation, as well as by rail. 

Kioto was the Mikado's former or western capital, full 
of temples, shrines, and sacred buildings. It numbers some 
two hundred and forty thousand inhabitants, and is the 
Canton of Japan. Here exquisite crapes, silks, lacquer, 
bronzes, kakimonies, and fans are made. 

From Kioto to Biwa Lake, three miles by jinrikisha — a 
charming spot — thence return to Kobe by rail. 

Our road runs through a broad, fertile plain from the 
mountains to the sea. It must be twenty-five to thirty 
miles wide and fifty miles long. The farms are divided off 
into so many gardens, one to three acres', and these into 
small beds of all possible shapes, some square and others 
round. Through them run the irrigating ditches, with 
paths raised a little above, on which the coolies pass with 
their baskets and buckets, swinging from each end of a 
bamboo pole. These paths are wide enough for horses, 
■which they use as well as bullocks in cultivating their farms. 
The plow has one handle, as iu all Eastern countries from 
Svria to China, which the farmer holds in one hand and 
guides by a rope he holds himself, or a bamboo pole tied to 
the bullock's or horse's nose by a short rope, guided by a 
boy. When the land is once plowed it is drawn up into 
ridges or beds with a hoe. Between the beds the water 
flows from the ditches when irrigation is needed. I saw the 
farmers cutting their grain with the hand sickle, threshing 
out the rape-seed, from which oil is made, and burning up 
the bushes in the fields. This land will be plowed up, 
manured, and flooded, to receive a crop of rice-plants. The 



574 



Around the World in 1884- 



method is the same as described in China, only the Jap- 
anese plant by a line often, and are more methodical and 
painstaking. Here are radishes growing two feet long, 
which are eaten by the natives all the year round. The 
farmers live in villages; but men, women, and children are 




CM* 

PEASANT GIRLS. 

seen working in the field. They make fans out of bamboo 
and winnow their rice and other grain. The straw is made 
into shoes, mats, and coats of different kinds. The bamboo 
is split up fine and manufactured into mats for their tem- 
ples, shrines, and houses. Every thing is economized — 
nothing lost. The Japanese grow large fields of egg-plants, 
indigo, beets, cabbages, and beans as well. The farmers, 
with their umbrella hats on (bamboo, two to three feet broad), 
blue blouses, short leggins, and their wives with their 



Japanese People, Houses, and Customs. 575 

skirts tucked up, all standing in line in the mud two feet 
deep setting out rice-plants, is a sight never to be forgot- 
ten. 

In our first-class coach the leather seats were arranged on 
the sides, with no wash-bowl, glass, or closets. Opposite Was 
our genial captain and the Japanese purser, wreathed in 
smiles. Two beautiful Japanese girls were going up to 
Kioto, and they sat opposite too. They were dressed in 
charming silks, with sashes, girdles, and their national cos- 
tumes, called the kimono. Their heads were under con- 
tract by the week, and I noticed each carried in her 
girdle a package of small bits, or squares, of tissue-paper, 
which confused me with perplexity. Afterward I heard 
they were tiny handkerchiefs, which they use once, twirl up 
with their fingers, and send whizzing away into the air. It 
is not etiquette to use a handkerchief but once in Japan. 
The following interesting description of how the Japanese 
girls do is full of interest, I apprehend, to girls in other 
lands : 

" When a Japanese girl gets up in the morning she washes 
her face, but does not have to dress her hair. That is at- 
tended to but once a week. The hair-dresser comes to the 
house and arranges her jet-black locks in the fashion for 
little girls of her age. So she has no trouble about her 
hair, and after her bath the servant assists her to powder 
her neck with a small white brush. She puts a little red 
paint on her lower lip, and a little gilding in the middle. 
"When she removes her sleeping-dress she has on only a 
short skirt, which is simply a square piece of cloth, crape, 
or silk tied around the waist. No other under-clothing is 
worn. In making her toilet for the day she first puts on a 
garment usually made of some coarse material, not very 
long, and reaching only to the waist, but with long sleeves. 
On the neck of this garment is sewed a deep fold of scarlet 



576 Around the World in 188 J^. 

or some bright-colored crape or silk. A long, straight skirt 
of blue or red crape, silk, or wool is tied around the waist, 
and over all three of these garments is worn the kimono, or 
dress. This is of some dark color, and made of coarse spun 
silk or thick crape. For festivals and holidays the dresses 
are of very fine material and very handsome. The outer 
dress is simply a wrapper reaching to the feet, with very 
long and wide sleeves hanging nearly to the ground, and 
used as pockets. On each shoulder a deep tuck is made, 
which extends to the waist, thus making a little fullness for 
the skirt. But the dress has no gathers, and is straight all 
the way down. The neck is adorned with a wide piece of 
black velvet or satin, Avhich reaches nearly to the waist, 
and the dress is crossed over the bosom and confined by a 
girdle. Over this is worn a very Avide sash, a piece of bro- 
caded silk or satin, stiff with embroidery in gold or silver, 
lined with soft silk and fastened behind in a very large 
bow. When these are all on, but barefooted, or if in cool 
weather in white mitten socks, made to reach only to the 
ankle, and with a place in which to put the great toe (just 
as mittens have a place far the thumb), she goes out to say 
' Ohaio,' or ' Good-morning,' to her father and mother." 

Our time was occupied in studying scenery inside now, 
instead of outside. We saw no mere crops, views, or mount- 
ains that day, until we had parted at Osaka with the pretty 
damsels, who sped on their way. 

We never met a foreigner in Osaka. We were detained 
here a day waiting for a guide and passports from Kobe. 
The native hotel furnished good accommodations, with 
knives and forks for us. I observed native gentlemen, officers 
of the army, dining with chop-sticks. They shuffle in the 
rice from bowls like the Chinese, but eat soup with spoons. 
We enjoyed a magnificent view of the level plain from the 
lofty pagoda of the principal temple; visited the mint, 



Japanese People, Houses, and Customs. 577 

which coins the copper, gold, and silver of Japan. The peo- 
ple complain because the Government doesn't put holes in 
the money. Paper money of denominations of ten to nine- 
ty sens is largely used. One hundred sens equal one yen, 
which is ninety cents of our money. A very small copper, 
called cash by foreigners, a fraction of a sen (or cent), has 
a hole in it. The paper bill yens run two, five, twenty, 
fifty, and one hundred. The mint machinery was imported 
from Europe, and is the finest I ever saw. There were 
none but Japanese officials in charge. 

The Cyclopean masonry of solid blocks, of granite — forty 
feet long, fifteen feet high, and eight feet thick — are seen in 
the castle. The difficulty of transporting these stones from 
the quarries, two hundred miles distant, each one as big as 
Cleopatra's Needle at Alexandria, puzzles the philosopher 
of this day. It is another Baalbec mystery to me. If 
they brought them here by water the Japanese craft and 
engineering were equal to the Cheops machinery with which 
the Pyramids were erected. 

In Kioto we stopped at the Jiutei, an excellent native ho- 
tel, on the slope of a lofty mountain. The panorama of the 
city below, with its hundreds of shrines and temples, its 
white castle, Imperial Palace, and Exhibition Hall, is very 
impressive and full of beauty. Kioto is a city of amuse- 
ments — ancient operas, comedy, farce, and tragedies. Here 
the pretty posturing and singing girls are found in great 
numbers ; festivals nearly every day ; bonfires on the mount- 
ains at night, arranged to represent different devices; and 
endless rounds of sight-seeing in the suburbs. 

Once a year, at the Kamigamo (Shinto Temple), on the 
5th of May, the keba, or horse-race, takes place. Here two 
sons of kings, who disputed a right of succession, once ran 
for a throne. 

At the temple of Higashi Hongwanji I find the priest of 
37 



578 Around the World in 1SS4- 

the Buddhist sect Monto, very wealthy, are educating mis- 
sionaries for Europe and America in several languages. 

Nara being twelve ri, or thirty-six miles, distant, south of 
Kioto, we were not able to visit the great Dai Butsu. This 
idol-image of Buddha was cast in 749, more than eleven 
hundred years ago. It is fifty-three feet six inches high, 
made of copper plates and a little gold. Inside is a temple 
decorated with altars, shrines, etc. It is said a man can 
crawl out of his nose, it being three feet in diameter. A stone 
lantern, brought from Ceylon centuries ago, probably, ha3 
been burning ever since. Many small deer, very gentle, 
are found in the mountains. Tea-bushes here, five hundred 
years old, produce the finest tea in Japan. 

A trip down the rapids of Oigawa River is attended by 
the wildest excitement. The natives shoot you through the 
mountain-gorge, in long boats, at a fearful rate. 

We saw Japanese persimmons in bloom along the road 
from Kioto to Biwa Lake for three ri, or nine miles. The 
trees were of immense size, but very similar in leaf and bark 
to our own. The Japanese dry the fruit like figs, and they 
are much relished as a dessert by foreigners when ripe, being 
eaten in milk with a spoon. They grow to the size of an 
apple here, of a deep blood-red color (seedless), which is 
not always an indication of maturity. This persimmon will 
undoubtedly grow finely in our cotton-belt, which experi- 
ments already made by Mr. P. J. Berckmans, of Augusta, 
have fully demonstrated. Mr. C. Menelas, of Savannah, 
TV. TV. Thompson, near Smithville, and H. H. Sanford, 
r of Thomasville, Ga., have had equal success. They are 
most delicious after frost, and bear transportation well. 
The great Tokaido, or national highway between Kioto 
and Tokio, would afford us ten days of beautiful traveling 
by our pull-man cars; but we must hasten our return from 
Biwa by rail to Kobe. Our route lies through terraced 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 579 



gardens of tea, which are cultivated in low-trimmed hedges. 
From the Iiiogo Hotel (English) we visit the Cascades, 
back of Kobe, up long, winding paths by tea-houses, a 
thousand feet, or higher, from which we enjoy an enrapt- 
ured view of the city and shipping in the harbor. Kobe 
and Hiogo are full of curio-shops, temples, photograph 
(native) houses, etc. But the curio-shops most interested 
us. Hari Shin hangs a sword over his gate and leaves one 
to stumble in accidentally. " Hidden away back there is a 
room full of old saddles and state kagos, or palanquins ; a 
niche full of old banners and spears ; an apartment piled 
high and hung with old dresses, brocade draperies, and uni- 
forms; rooms filled with carved and gilded Buddhas; di- 
vine Kwannons more or less battered and worn, and rooms 
of old china, old laccpier, and old wood-carving. The last 
room looks upon a little garden, which of course holds its 
miniature poud crossed by a stone bridge, its stone lantern 
under the shadow of a tree at the water's edge, and bronze 
storks and stunted pines along the slope of the small mount- 
ain cunningly represented at one end. Across the garden 
are three more rooms of armor, coins, and all kinds of 
ancient things ; and a second story repeats all the labyrinth 
of rooms filled with more and more curios." 

The days of hara-kiri, when the disgraced man killed 
himself, are gone. The imposing ceremonies attending the 
hara-kiri were similar to a duel. 



CHAPTER LVI. 

From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 

FROM Kobe to Yokohama, up the coast of the broad 
Pacific, is two hundred and forty-six miles. Our cap- 
tain (Connor) and pm*ser had returned from their jaunt up 
to Kioto. But we miss two of our brightest faces from 



580 



Around the World in 188 If. 



Shanghai — Mrs. Appleton and Miss Colt. Miss Colt was 
traveling with her aged father around the world the sec- 
ond time. They were just up from Manilla, about the 
equator, where they had passed the winter. Charming 
Miss Colt! she was so chatty and gossipy with the captain. 
We all enjoyed her company and occasional good shots at 
the commanding officer. She had smuggled her little pet 




THE EASTERN SHORE. 



Japanese dog in her state-room, and the captain overheard 
it in passing. "First-class passage for two, Miss Colt; the 
ship's rules must be observed." "We will have this ship 
stop, Captain Connor, and you put off here," she facetiously 
replied. 

Our table has been .superb, with a great variety of Chi- 
nese and Japanese articles. We eat Japanese rice, fish, 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 581 



eggs, oranges, pears, and chickens; Chinese mutton, beef, 
turkeys, potatoes, etc.; while America contributes to the 
larder in hams, bacon, flour, buckwheat, and sugar. We 
have Chinese and Japanese teas, pea-nuts, and American 
waffles. The Japanese oranges are seedless, thin peel, of 
oval shape, and very delicious — mostly Tangerene variety. 
Our rice is steamed after being boiled a little, which ex- 
pands every grain twice its size, standing by itself. Eaten 
with curry and Bombay ducks (dried fish) from India, as 
it is all around the world, it is a most savory dish. 

We have Japanese and Chinese first-class passengers, the 
latter being the bankers and brokers in many Japanese 
cities. In traveling across the Pacific they nearly all go 
steerage — here, first-class. 

Arriving in the Gulf of Yedo early on the morning of 
the 12th of June, I looked out of my port upon the snow- 
mantled brow of Fuji-Yama, seventy miles distant — an ex- 
tinct volcano that rises twelve thousand and fifty feet high, 
with a crater three miles in circumference and two hundred 
feet deep. It is the sacred mountain of Japan, much ven- 
erated by the people. It enters into ail their art, Its lofty 
summit dominates the landscape for one hundred miles 
around. It can be ascended from two or three sides, as 
it rises with a majestic sweep from the plain and sea-shore. 
Having finally made our way through the fishing-smacks, 
sampans, and junks, we anchor. A little steam-yacht, fly- 
ing the American colors, lands us at the pier, and we take 
jinrikishas for the Windsor House, 18 Bund— American 
hotel. Magnificent! Every comfort and luxury that could 
be desired. Facing the sea, it commands a grand view of the 
ocean. William, the American colored steward, serves us 
with delicious strawberries of immense size and good flavor. 
For breakfast we have waffles, hot biscuits,and Goshen butter, 
sirup and batter-cakes. This looks like a civilized country. 



582 Around the World in 1SS4. 

The popular thoroughfares in the European city are 
the Bund and main streets, upon -which are erected many 
fine brick houses, curio-shops, steam-shij) offices, a tea-hong, 
with pretty, well-paved drives between high walls. The 
Houcho Dori and Benten Dori are the principal native 
streets, which contain shops of the finest lacquer-ware, 
bronzes, porcelain, silks, etc. These articles are exten- 
sively manufactured here. A few of the native houses are 
brick, but oftener wooden, with heavy eaves. 

The foreigners live out on the bluff, in the rear of the city. 
Their charming homes command a grand view of Fuji- Yama, 
the city, and ocean. The English, Americans, Germans, 
and other foreigners, bring their habits with them to China 
and Japan, as the people from this side of the Pacific 
carry theirs across. There is a United States naval hos- 
pital here, a foreign cemetery, and beyond a race-course 
and rifle-range. Near by are Boehmer's Gardens, No. 28, 
the most extensive nursery for native and exotic plants and 
flowers in Japan. Here the Japonica in all its native glory 
— Japanese persimmon at home — chrysanthemums, bulbs, 
seeds, etc., are to be found. Messrs. Kuhn & Co., 79 Main 
street, and Messrs. Deakin Brothers, 16 Bund, from whom we 
purchased a large collection of curios, are German and Ameri- 
can merchants of the highest standing. 

Japanese artists will paint your portraits from life on silk 
panels; tattoo your body, arms, or legs in India ink, with 
fruits and flowers, or huge snakes coiled around, with ven- 
omous-looking tongues protruding, a fox with the hounds in 
full chase, and in other fanciful designs. Many foreigners 
patronize these artists, as well as the side-shows, wrestling, 
boxing, fencing, acrobatic feats, theaters, etc. — all kinds of 
amusements. The Japanese are a festive people, fond of 
holidays, plays, etc. They have their picnics and May 
parties on the wooded hills, and celebrate them with in- 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 583 

tense enthusiasm. In their legends and folk-lore are stories 
like "Uncle Remus's brer rabbit and brer fox," so inimi- 
tably told by my friend Joel C. Harris. The children are 
fond of their cats without tails, and play with their little 
spotted dogs — all eyes. 

Besides jinrikishas, there are livery-stables in Yokohama, 
horses, traps, and bettos. The betto is a hostler or out- 
runner, who is always at the horse's head, either standing 
or trotting; but he answers the place for a horse-rack as a 
rule. The foreign ladies, English, French, German, Rus- 
sian, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Hungarian — all coun- 
tries are represented here, but especially the English, who 
outnumber all foreigners except Chinese — are fond of driv- 
ing down the Bund with the outrunner. Only a few wealthy 
people ride horseback. 

A missionary first introduced the jinrikisha here about 
fifteen years ago. Thousands of these baby-carriages are 
made in this city and Tokio, at twenty-two dollars apiece. 
The natives run stables of these as well as livery, the men 
taking the places of horses. 

The Japanese shoe is a wonderful thing. It is usually a 
sandal or clog. The first is made of wheat or rice straw, 
sometimes with a leather sole, and is much more durable 
than might be supposed. A pair of straw shoes can be 
bought for two cents. The clog is a piece of kiri wood* 
cut the size of the foot, raised two or three inches above 
the ground by cross pieces of board, one near the heel 
and one near the toe, inserted tight in the grooves and 
glued. Both styles are held upon the foot by a cord com- 
ing between the big and second toes from over both sides 
of the feet. Sometimes they are worn without stockings; 
but the short stockings usually worn have a separate toe 
knit for the big toe, like a thumb of a glove, to permit the 

*The kiri-tree is cultivated in Japan for making wooden shoes. 



584 Around the World in 188 4. 

cord to pass through, which holds the shoe in place. This 
arrangement allows the wearer, by a shake of the foot, to 
leave the shoes at the doors of their houses, temples, etc., so 
that no dust or mud ever soils the mat upon the floor. 
These elevated clogs are preferred for wet weather. When 
a train arrives, the sound of these wooden shoes clanking 
on the pavement produces a deafening noise. 

The babies and small brats are all carried in a loose sack 
on the back ; the back part of the blouse is made loose, and 
confined at the waist by a belt, so the babies can be dropped 
in on the back of the nurse. Old men, grandmas, and lit- 
tle girls six years old I have seen employed in this way. 
When a foreigner passes through the invariable one straight 
street, the whole population of the village swarm in front 
of the doors — so you can take the census. 

The Japanese, like the Chinese, hold filial reverence one 
of their highest duties. The authority of parents is held 
in sacred veneration even by the married sons, who never 
grow so old as to feel themselves free from parental re- 
straint. This devotion and respect of children is one of the 
most beautiful parts of their domestic life. The son never 
marries without deference to his widowed mother's wishes, 
and when married often spends his life with her, his wife as 
well as he being considered under her authority. It is a 
rare thing to ever see a baby cry, or a naughty child, in 
Japan. But it must not be inferred that society is unat- 
tended with concomitant evils. Immorality and licentious- 
ness prevail here, as elsewhere. I believe the wife is gen- 
erally true and virtuous, but daughters by poor parents are 
sold for concubines, and even to mistresses of abandoned 
houses ; but after a girl has fallen, she is often sought in hon- 
orable marriage, especially if she has been the mistress of 
foreigners. I have seen it stated that the natives whip their 
wives, and that even women of the higher classes are sus- 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 585 

pected of infidelity, in the city of Tokio. A native some- 
times asks a foreigner, "How in the world you manage your 
women without beating them?" 

Shintooism seems to have been the primitive religion of 
Japan. I have seen no idols in the Shintoo temples — they 
claim to have none — but generally a mirror, representing 
the all-seeing eye of the deity. In this glass you must study 
your faults, correct them in life, etc. A foolish tradition, con- 
necting with its history some goddess who became enraged 
once and then happy again on beholding her beauty in the 
mirror, is given by the guide. This Shintooism, or looking- 
glass religion, would appear to be popular in other countries. 

We visited a famous old temple, eleven miles in the coun- 
try by rail, on the road to Tokio, near Omori station. It 
is situated one and a half mile distant, at Ikegami (upper 
lake), erected in honor of Nichiren. Returning, we came 
along the sea-shore, through a fertile country, by Black- 
eyed Susan's tea-house, and made the last three miles by 
jinrikisha, in exactly eighteen minutes, to the Windsor 
Hotel. Our men had legs like ostriches, and used them 
too. (Backshish). 

Black-eyed Susan's has become historical, since the pres- 
ent occupants of the inn are connected with the Pocahon- 
tas of Japanese tradition who once saved the life of an En- 
glish sailor on this spot by her intercession with his captors. 
Of course they married. 

Another delightful day was enjoyed in visiting Kama- 
kura, formerly the Shoguns' capital of Japan, and the great 
Dai Butsu (pronounced Di-boots), eighteen miles distant. 
We passed over many stone bridges, through thirty or forty 
villages — from five hundred to fifteen thousand inhabitants, 
perhaps — where the people were at work in their fields and 
shops on Sunday. Yv r e saw plenty of heathen temples, but 
few worshipers — many of the old temples are goiug to decay, 



586 



Around the World in 1884. 



and others are used for school-houses. Thev have bells, sen- 
orally in front, to wake up the gods, which they do by clap- 
j>ing their hands ; then they mumble something, throw one- 
tenth of a cent into the treasure-box, and leave. 

At Kamakura we saw a tree (icho) one thousand years 
old. Yoritomo, the first Shogun, made this his capital in 
1185. Many a bloody battle has been fought around these 




BUDDHA. 



hills. The temple (Shintoo) is reached by climbing fifty- 
eight stone steps from which a grand view of the ocean is 
enjoyed. Some very old swords, carvings inlaid with gold, 
an ink-stand, bows, arrows, etc., are shown us by the priest. 
In a mile and a half down the valley we stand in front 
of the colossal bronze idol Buddha, cast in 1252, that is 
three feet lower than the one I described at Nara — this one 
being just fifty feet high. We went inside of the old hea- 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 



587 



then, but his nose being only two feet wide we were unable 
to crawl out. There is a window in his back which looks 
out on a pretty landscape. We had our picture taken sitting 
in his arms, thirty feet above the ground, reached by a lad- 
der. An earthquake has shaken the old gentleman up once, 
and a tidal-wave nearly carried him out to sea. This image 
was cast in sections and put together, weighing half a million 
pounds. His face is eight feet long, ear six, nostrils two 
feet three inches, and mouth three feet three inches wide. 
In his forehead appears the inevitable wart. His thumb is 




FIRE ENGINE. 



eight inches long and ten wide ; from elbow to waist is eight 
feet. Kamakura was the Shogun capital for four hundred 
years, down to the sixteenth century, when it was moved 
to Yedo, the present capital of the Mikado. Japanese tem- 
ples, like their wooden houses, are very perishable. Fires 
sweep away whole cities sometimes. The law compels ev- 
erybody to carry lamps after dark. As we had made about 
forty miles with the same men, we were rather late returning. 



588 Around the World in 188b. 

From Yokohama to Tokio is eighteen miles, with an oc- 
casional glimpse of the sea. A village on either side of the 
railroad extends the whole way. Three round stone forts 
in the harbor, with frowning batteries, command the ap- 
proaches to the capital. Tokio is an immense wooden city 
of unpainted houses — full of shrines, temples, palaces, and 
sacred places. There are a few magnificent modern brick 
structures, like the Club House, Naval School, foreign 
schools, Dai Gakko, Imperial College, Museum of Natural 
History, foreign ministers' and consulates' residences, Engi- 
neering College, etc. The residences command a magnificent 
view of the city from Castle Hill. The population is prob- 
ably one million. But we cannot compare Tokio with 
New York, Edinburgh, Paris, London, or Berlin for magnifi- 
cence. A Japanese wooden city and a foreign town are as 
much unlike as their people. But there is a world of won- 
ders here, full of curious interest and study. The temples 
of Shiba, Ueno, Akasaka Go Mon, and Asaksa are the most 
celebrated. Shiba is the garden of Tokio, full of pebbled 
walks and flowers. Its court, fronting the temple of Zojoji, 
contains two hundred stone lanterns. Here are the tombs 
of the Shoguns and Mikados. . Seven of the Tokugawa 
family sleep here, and five at Ueno. Jyeyasu* and Jyemitsu 
are gorgeously entombed at Nikko. Zojoji is full of images, 
holy storks resting on beds of lotus flowers, and fine lacquer 
wrought in arabesque and high-relief. We walk through 
with shoes off, on the matted floors, in amazement. The 
buildings are all of wood, a species of cedar called crypto- 
meria. An immense unfinished Buddhist temple close by 
was reared (its mighty timbers) by ropes of hair made of 
offerings left by the pilgrims. The names of contributors 
are placarded at the gate-way. The original temple was 
burned down some years ago, and it is doubtful if this huge 

* Jyeyasu was the founder of the Shogun dynasty. 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 589 

structure is ever finished. The Buddhists always wash their 
hands in a stone lavatory before prayer. These monoliths, 
or water-troughs, are cut out of a single stone, a fine spec- 
imen of which is to be observed here. I have seen no new 
shrines, and but few temples building ; the old ones are go- 
ing to decay, and many others are offered for rent, which 
shows the Buddhists are on the decline in Japan. 

The immense forests of cryptomeria on the hills beyond 
Shiba are beautiful indeed. Three or four miles distant, 
in another district called Asaksa, we visited probably the 
most celebrated temple in Japan ; it was the temple of Kin 
Riu Zan {Kwannon Sama), in which is deposited a solid 
gold image of the goddess. The approach to the temple- 
grounds is along a paved court lined with gay shops, 
through a gate-hall, on either side of which stand colossal 
red wooden gods (tutelary guardians) — Ni-0 (two kings) — 
one to welcome those who repent and lead a new life, the 
other to bless the newborn infant destined to become a good 
man. On one of these huge images were hanging straw 
shoes as offerings; while the other's monstrous corporosity 
was literally covered with paper prayers, first chewed into 
soft wads and stuck by throwing hard. If the prayer sticks, 
it is all right; if not, it will not be answered. There was the 
usual five-story pagoda (painted red), and an octagon build- 
ing containing hundreds of idols and representations of the 
goddess Kwannon, in answer to prayer. Near by is a wax tab- 
leau of life-size figures, surpassing even Madame Tusseaud's 
exhibition in London. Here are tame pigeons (sacred), tea 
booths and shops, a theater, circus, archery galleries, with ev- 
ery kind of exhibition for amusement. There is also a native 
artist (picture-gallery) and a god for everything at Asaksa; 
the god for the colic is a mere fragment — he is nearly rubbed 
away. His brow and face have suffered much, but his dia- 
phragm is a magnificent ruin. This divinity is supposed to 



590 



Around the World in 188 4. 



. J L_l 




PICTURE OF A PLEASURE PARTY, AFTER HAVING SEEN THE COLIC 
GOD — FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT THE TEMPLE. 



have the power of healing the colic. The sufferer rubs 
his hand first over that part of the god that corresponds to 
the diseased organ and then rubs himself in the same place. 
The thunder and lightning gods seen at another temple were 
immense wooden images (painted red), ten to fifteen feet 
high. They struck me with amazement. There are about 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 



591 



fourteen thousand gods iu all. The gods of health, wealth, 
fame, strength, muscle, the widow and orphan, are among 
the most popular in Japan. But when a fellow gets into 
purgatory here, as among the Buddhists and Tauists of 
China, it sometimes requires two or three lifts by the priest 
to get him out. A Buddhist hell is a perfect bonanza. 

Among other temples in Tokio which I cannot describe 
are those of Hachiman (god of war) and Five Hundred 
Sages (disciples of Buddha). 




"WILL TAKE A SMOKE. 



Tokio is a city of canals and bridges. It has one large 
boulevard, terminating at Shimbashi. On this thoroughfare, 
ninety feet wide, are many fine two and three story houses of 
mixed European and Japanese architecture. A few streets 
are paved. I saw a street railroad working horses which re- 
sembled Bullet in the " Georgia Scenes." Their shadows were 
enough to frighten them. Some of the streets once had bar- 
ricades closed up by gates at each end. When the police 
wanted to arrest a thief or suppress a riot, they ran to these 



592 Around the World in 188b. 

gates and closed them up, and got him. If it was a fight, 
the combatants were furnished with bamboo-poles, while 
the officers climbed up on the house-tops to see the struggle. 
The blacksmith sits on the ground and hammers on his anvil. 
Nearly all work in the way of manufactures is done in a sit- 
ting posture. The tailor wriggles his cloth over his needle; 
the carpenter draws his plane toward him; the Japanese 
mounts his horse on the right side, instead of the left side; 
doing (like the Chinese) many things opposite to us. 

Doctors are paid a salary by the Government, and are not 
required to have a diploma. Saki is kept in kegs piled up 
in front of shops and some temples. It is used at festivals 
in the little gardens of the wealthy, which are found in the 
rear of most Japanese houses. During evenings, men and 
even ladies use the little pipe — two whiffs — both at home and 
at the theaters. Saki (rice-liquor) is liable to prostrate the 
average citizen by intemperate indulgence, but excessive 
drinking is a rare exception. 

Foreign goods are as great a curiosity in Tokio as Jap- 
anese goods are in America. 

The theaters are a curiosity. The acting seems mostly 
controversial. If it is a comedy, farce, or burlesque, usually 
two men are most prominent on the stage. In acrobatic 
and gymnastic feats, which are very wonderful, a number 
are sometimes employed. The funniest sight is when a 
change of scene is wanted to see the main stage change the 
position of the actors from front to rear, or rear to front, 
on rollers. It resembles a turn-table. The tongues on 
either side are stationary. The pit, in which the people 
sit on mats upon the ground, looks like a chess-board, each 
square seating four peojole. I saw some benches, and up in 
the gallery were private boxes for the aristocracy. Boys 
with fruits and candies walk along on planks, crying their 
wares. Everybody smokes and eats ground pease during 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 593 

the performance. I saw one fellow step up and light his 
pipe at the footlights. Admission five to twenty cents. 

When a festival in honor of a god or hero is given the 
people go to the temple. All celebrations are fixed through- 
out the year by law or custom. The most novel sight I 
saw was a bamboo pole erected at many houses. During the 
5th of May just passed there was a fish tied on the end of every 
one of them, showing a boy had been born there during the 
year. The occasion is one of presenting gifts of clothing, 
toys, toy horses, coats of armor, swords, etc., the boy being 
the pride of the house. Every boy is remembered by his 
friends and relatives, being overwhelmed with presents. 
The girls' day comes on the 3d of March. Then, instead 
of the fish as a symbol, the doll goes up. All the shops are 
now ablaze with dolls, doll toggery, tea-sets, lounges, mats to 
sit on, etc. The boys have the advantage of the girls ; and 
an anxious mother does not wait for the time, but runs up 
the symbol a month or more in advance. 

There are no bridal parties in Japan. Often a couple, 
engaged by their parents when babies, struggle for years to 
secure and lay aside marriage expenses for trousseau, the 
bonzes (priest's fee), and a feast for friends in honor of the 
event. When not able, the girl runs away to the bride- 
groom's house and secretes herself. All the neighbors pur- 
sue her, and when she is found the girl's parents — mother 
first, then father — become reconciled, as if they had been 
angry. They always marry, and are overwhelmed with 
presents. 

The obi, worn by all ladies except the nobility, is a kind 
of girdle and corset combined; it is Avound around the waist 
and fastened on the back, so as to produce a large furbelow 
— a cartridge-box-looking arrangement. If she is a widow 
and determined never to marry, she knots the obi in front ; 
but I never saw one worn that way. 
38 



594 



Around the World in 183Jf. 




THE WAY I LIKE IT. 



The ladies in Japan 
never kiss Avhen they meet, 
nor look behind to see if 
somebody is looking at 
them. They always bow. 
There is no doubt in my 
mind but this is the na- 
tive land of "Old Mother 
Hubbard " in America. It 
is called the hrimoni in 
Japan — a loose overdress 
without a ruffle in it, 
and hanging en neglige to 
the ground. The girdle 
imposes the proper restraint here; but in America the old 
"mother" is turned loose like a young colt bounding over 
the prairies. 

I thought she was an old heathen! The pannier origi- 
nally came from Persia or Japan, and was supposed to be 
a London or Paris fashion. It is now discovered that 
crinolines were worn in Hesiod's time, eight hundred years 
before Christ. He advises young Greek men not to be led 
astray by women's clothes "puffed out behind." Two hun- 
dred years earlier than this period, who can tell but Helen, 
when she fled with Paris to Troy, did not wear a crinoline? 
There is not much new under the sun. 

Our visit to the Ladies' Bazar at the Club House, on our 
arrival in the city has left the most agreeable impressions 
upon our mind. It shows what a progressive people the 
Japanese are. Here Avas a magnificent exhibition of Jap- 
anese art and manufactures, arranged after the American 
fairs, to raise funds to build a charity hospital for the poor. 
The leading families of the nobility led in the movement. 
It was a grand success. I saw beautiful Japanese girls 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 595 

dressed in American costumes, speaking English at their 
several booths. They Avere quite up to the American girls 
in all the arts of coquetry and persuasion necessary to drive 
a trade. Quite a number of English people came over from 
Tokio to witness the first effort of this kind ever made in 
Japan. We returned to the hotel bankrupted. 

One of the most delightful visits we enjoyed was to the 
Maple House, on the suburbs of Tokio. The house, built 
entirely of maple, was the home of a wealthy family. We 
were welcomed by two pretty little girls, who cried out, 
'Ohayo!" Then we shouted, "Arigato!" "Welcome," 
"Thank you." Our guides remarked, "Be seated, gentle- 
men ; "for we had been joined by an English party at the hotel. 
There were cushions for six all in a row. Doubling up "in 
a heap," we squatted upon the floor. There was no furni- 
ture of any description — nothing except the mats upon the 
matted floor. As soon as the girls appeared, with lacquer 
trays of tea, candies, cakes, etc., they, set them aside, as is 
usual, bowing three times, their heads touching the floor. 
When we attempted to rise I found my cross-legged ex- 
tremities in inextricable confusion. Pcould n't rise. Some 
of the boys had rolled over on their sides and scrambled up. 
It looked as if it would take both guides to extricate me 
from my perilous position. I felt like a ruined communi- 
ty. We went up maple steps into a smoking-room, and de- 
scending exchanged our sandals at the door for clogs to take 
a pleasure walk with the family in the garden. I was de- 
lighted. Securing my feet firmly by the cords that come 
up between the big and second toes, I was ready to roam 
abroad. But the first thing I discovered were my heels. 
The boys roared, yet it was etiquette, you know. Arriving 
at last on the spot where the "Empress. once sat," the guides 
said, we all took a seat, looking out on the deep blue sea. 
I had dreaded my return to the maple chateau. I con- 



596 Around the World in 1884. 

eluded to make no more ventures on those uncertain shoes, 
so I gathered up my clogs in my hands, walking back to 
the door. Not etiquette, you know ! They were just as un- 
certain as a Georgia mule. Bowing our "Say O naros" 
("since it must be so"), I unthinkingly threw a kiss at the 
pretty little miss, who came near fainting at the maple door. 
But when we departed, "since it must be so," she smiled very 
sweetly, and I bowed very low. 

I let my horse out on his metal coming home. When we 
reached the native hotel I heard those pretty girls at the 
Bazar were Vassar girls. Then O how sorry to see what 
I had missed, should we ever have married ; for I know those 
Vassar girls had learned to kiss. 

I wish I could give a description of our visit to Nikko, 
ninety miles distant in the north of Japan. We made this 
memorable journey in two days, by jinrikishas, two men to 
each carriage. Every five miles the men stopped for chow- 
chow, rice, and tea; sometimes a pair of new straw shoes. 
The same men pulled us through (we occasionally walking 
up mountains) forty-five miles each day. They averaged 
five miles an hour, with most extraordinary endurance. I 
would tell you of the grandest mountain views; of Nikko, 
a city of temples and magnificent tombs; of a pedestrian 
tour still farther north, above precipices, over bridges and 
deep ravines to the summit of a mountain five thousand 
feet above the sea. On the way we saw a cascade leaping over 
a mountain and lost in spray thousands of feet below. We 
climbed up many a dizzy height and cliff. At eveiy step 
were wonders of surprising beauty, the deepest gorges and 
most weird scenery I had ever beheld. Above the clouds 
at last we behold the falls of Kegon-no-taki, three hundred 
and fifty feet sheer descent — a mile above the charming 
lake of Chiuzenji, eight miles long and three miles Avide. 
High over our heads rose in awful sublimity the volcano of 



From Nagasaki to Yokohama. 



597 



Shiraue, nine thousand feet. A more lovely picture had 
never before enraptured our vision. 

How we enjoyed the hospitality of the native inns, vil- 
lages, and people, the quaint sights and curious things seen 
— of men and women bathing together; of nude men walking 
home through the village streets ; of rice-mills run by water ; 
sawing lumber by hand; of different modes of traveling; 




THE CANGO— MOUNTAIN TRAVEL. 

of the celebration and military encampment at Nikko ; of 
its w T onderful shrines, thousands of strange gods, images, 
lacquer, mosaic painting, and curious bronze bells, from 
Corea; lofty flights of stone steps up to temples thousands 
of feet high; of earthquakes that have shaken their gods 
up; of the gorgeous tombs, bronze storks, and pebbled 
courts of Iyeyasu and Iyemitsu, the Shogun princes; of 
reeling silk, growing cocoons, in villages; of curious cus- 
toms; a thousand things or more — enough for a book. 
Along the road I saw a contrivance for hot baths. A tall 
kettle is half filled with water. You get in, and presently 
a smoke begins to ascend all around you. A man ignorant 



598 Around the World in 1884. 

of the motive would escape in mad fright from the threat- 
ening caldron. But as soon as the water is warm enough 
the fire is removed. 

We returned to Yokohama, after an absence of a week, 
to find our steamer, the "City of Pekin/' up from Hong 
Kong, nearly ready for her long stretch across the Pacific. 
Going to the booking office of the Pacific Mail Steam-ship 
Company, I found a large number of first-class passengers 
registered for the "City of Pekin." There were many 
English people from Australia and China; two war cor- 
respondents (French) from Saigon, a half dozen G. T.'s 
(globe-trotters), a large number of Japanese intermediate, 
about eight hundred deck (Chinese), and several American 
merchants bound for San Francisco, New York, and Eu- 
rope. Mr. Alex. C. showed us every courtesy worthy of a 
polite and obliging general passenger agent. By his uni- 
form kindness he won our highest encomiums, which I am 
sure he fully merited, believing the company has not a more 
faithful and efficient officer on this side of the Pacific. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

Leaving Yokohama, Japan, foe San Francisco — 
Homeward Bound — The "City of Pekin" — Inci- 
dents of the Voyage, etc. 

ON the 18th of June, promptly at the hour advertised, the 
great steam-ship " City of Pekin" steamed out of the har- 
bor of Yokohama, Japan, on the broad Pacific, homeward 
bound. We watched the city, then the coast-line, with its 
villages and beautiful mountains, fade away on a glorious 
view. Still visible for an hour longer was Fuji-Yama, lift- 
ing its imperial crown, mantled with snow, that stood alone 
in majestic grandeur. 

For many days and nights we sail around on the great 



Incidents of the Homeward Voyage. 599 



circle, following up the kuro siivo, or black gulf-current, 
that shoots its warm waters from the equator north toward 
the Aleutian Islands. Fx-om here this gulf-stream flows 
eastward, then southward, warming up the shores of the 
frozen regions north, then past Oregon, and is lost in the Polar 
Sea. We have described to you already the gulf-stream of 
the Atlantic Ocean. The kuro siivo is the gulf-stream of 
the Pacific. 

At the end of five or six days' sailing we start across the 
Pacific toward the American shores. Three times a day 
the officer of the deck notifies the captain of "Eight bells, 
sir!" — 8 a.m., 12 m., and 4 p.m., hours at which the longi- 
tude and latitude are ascertained by the ship's chronometers. 
Sailing east as we have traveled from Greenwich, England, 
the ship's time has been altered every day to correspond 
with the true time determined at eight bells every morning. 
On the sixth day we crossed the meridian, the one hundred 
and eightieth degree, changing now from east to west longi- 
tude. A few hours ago it was one hundred and seventy- 
nine east of Greenwich ; now it is one hundred and seventy- 
nine west. One degree, representing four minutes of time, 
multiplied by three hundred and sixty, a whole circle, and 
divided by sixty minutes an hour, will throw the time into 
twenty-four hours we would gain by a voyage around the 
world if our w T atch was set at Greenwich and never changed 
in making the voyage. Going east then we would gain 
exactly twenty-four hours, or w y est would lose that time. 
Coming east our clock is put forward every day about fif- 
teen minutes, and the calendar is made to correspond by 
adding a day. Coming west a day is dropped to avoid con- 
fusion, the clock being set back fifteen minutes. Thus if 
the " City of Pekin " were going west and cross the meridian 
on Monday the next day would be Monday also. 

Let us now take a peep at our mammoth ship, one of the 



600 



Around the World in 1884. 



great screw-propellers of the Pacific Mail Steam-ship Com- 
pany — a perfect floating palace. She is broad and deep 
like the ocean, and very long, with powerful engines to 
shoot us across. She carries over a thousand tons of coal, 
and will average fifteen to seventeen miles an hour. She is 
built of iron, by John Roach & Co. (American), I believe 




THE "CITY OF PEKIN CROSSING THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



nearly five thousand tons burden. If she was a mind to, the 
" City of Pekin" could carry off as large a town as Talbotton, 
with its twelve hundred inhabitants, and our seven miles of 
railroad and engine for ballast. We have nearly one thou- 
sand people on board, forty-five thousand chests of tea, and 
any amount of other merchandise. Six times around her 
decks is about a mile. Every day the English boys from 
Australia, the finest athletes in the world, play base-ball ; 
besides, we can play shuffle-board, rings and quoits, leap- 
frog, and promenade at the same time. We are a large com- 
munity ! We have the best captain in the world, first, sec- 
ond, third officers, purser, chief engineer and several as- 
sistants, a doctor, four quartermasters, freight clerks and 



Incidents of the Homeward Voyage. 601 



stewards. We have a barber-shop, carpenters, ice-house, 
apothecary-shop, butcher-pens, bakery, laundry, pens of fat 
turkeys, droves of cattle, sheep, pigs, etc. — enough for a 
large village. We have a car-load of flour, canned goods, 
and pickled meats ; vegetables and fruits, game and fish on 
ice; strawberries and cream for dinner; all kinds of nuts, 
pastries and luxuries of every kind. The "Pekin" com- 
bines the elegant hotel, the sumptuous grocery, and inex- 
haustible store-houses of Chicago. We have every thing 
except a telegraph wire and daily newspaper. Our expenses 
are enormous, requiring fifty to sixty thousand dollars for 
a round trip voyage to Hong Kong and back. Besides the 
Government subsidy of forty-six thousand dollars for every 
voyage for carrying the United States mails, the chief 
source of income is from steerage passengers. Our officers 
are American, but the crew is Chinese, over one hundred 
persons in all. We have the usual fire-alarm drill, man- 
ning of boats, etc. The bread and water are kept in the 
ship's boats for the iast hope. Our captain, G. G. Berry, 
was nearly born on the billows of the ocean, "fledged in the 
deep." He is a native of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, on 
the line of Maine ; is fifty-six years of age, and has been forty 
years at sea. He was for many years Gommander of ships 
for the good old house of A. A. Low & Bro., New York, 
on which he doubled the Cape of Good Hope thirty-three 
times. "Captain, have you ever been shipwrecked?" I in- 
quired one day, lounging in his elegant state-room. "O 
yes, four times ; once in the China Sea and three times in 
the Atlantic." 

Capt. Berry has a very accurate knowledge of history 
and a decidedly literary turn. One day, sitting at dinner, 
somebody remarked the Irish had once whipped the Scotch. 
" Not so," retorted a Scotch gentleman on his left ; " it is 
false ; it is not history ! " The question was at once sub- 



602 Around the World in 18SJ/.. 

mitted to Capt. Berry as referee. " Yes," replied the noble 
commander, " and held Scotland four hundred years after 
subjugating it." 

About the twelfth day we passed through fields of jelly-fish 
and porpoises, and a large number of whales at a distance 
were sending up jets of water as they occasionally came up 
to breathe, resembling fountains playing on the placid 
bosom of the ocean. We are sailing over water five miles 
deep. The varying shades of reflected light under chang- 
ing skies and shifting clouds, the variety of exquisite color- ' 
ings and radiant hues, whose heightened beauty has been 
brought into expression by agitation of the waves, afford an 
endless study. I have heard it said the sea is blue when 
the water is deep and green when shallow ; but these hues 
must vary under the changing skies. Their beauty is in- 
describable. Seeing the sun rise and set at sea is too gor- 
geous for any thing. I hope the Japanese student who woke 
up the ship by a recitation of spring poetry this morning 
will be spared such a calamity. 

A slight bearing to the southward would take us past the 
Sandwich Islands, where our ship formerly stopped. Here 
Ave would behold the most terrific grandeur of an active 
volcano in the world — Kilanea. 

On the fifteenth day the bulletin of the ship reported 
four thousand five hundred miles run. Our long, eventful 
voyage, full of pleasure and interest, was drawing to a close. 

The captain gave a grand Fourth of July dinner, with 
plenty of wine, in honor of American independence. There 
was to have been an oration, but the orator's eye was too 
much inflamed for the declaration. Considerable hilarity in 
the social hall the night previous had blasted his highest 
ambition. 

Dan and Jack had kept up an animated discussion 
whether the world was round or not. Dan said it looked 




(602) NATIVE? OF HAWAII LEAPING INTO TIIE PEA. 



Incidents of the Homeward Voyage. 603 

very flat about Shanghai to him. Jack declared it as round 
as an apple. He had traveled east out the front door of his 
house several months toward sunrise, and here he was re- 
turning by the back door, going east all the time. 

It was the last night. Some glowing tributes to the great- 
ness of our countries must be paid; the Queen's health 
drank ; the President of the proudest republic on earth, etc., 
remembered. England remarked: "We girdle the world 
with our ships." America said: " We feed it with our com- 
merce, and enrich it with our gold and silver." A Kussian 
bear was sitting in the corner doing a lot of thinking. Aus- 
tralia observes: "We have the broadest fields of wheat, 
prairies covered with sheep, gold and silver, fruits of every 
clime, and the richest land under the sun." A Californian 
yelled out : " You have not got a pumpkin that weighs four 
hundred pounds!" "O hush! we have trees five hundred 
feet high." "That's nothing," replied the Californian; 
" your city of Melbourne could dance a cotillon on one of 
our stumps, and Adelaide could ride through the hollow of 
another on horseback, four abreast, and file out at a knot. 
Why, it takes two men to see to the top of one of our trees ! " 
continued the Californian. "You have no 'possums!" 
"Yes, we have." "Kangaroos?" "Don't want them." 
" T/ie colored lady? " " Plenty of them." "Well, we have 
a curious animal in Australia called the laughing jackass; 
have you got them? " " Yes, thousands of them! " roared 
the American. 

A few things worth knowing : 

That volcanoes are found around the whole world. 

That the world is burning up internally. 

That the Aztecs of Mexico and Incas of Peru were Bud- 
dhists, and must have crossed Behring's Strait or the Pacific. 

That there are lofty mountains and trade-winds about 
the equator that temper the heat. 



604 Around the World in 188 '4. 

That the only practicable railroad route to China is from 
Calcutta through Burmah. 

That Australia and Africa are the only two countries of 
which the black man is a native. 

That Australia has trees that shed their bark instead of 
leaves. 

That their most gorgeous flowers have no fragrance. 

That their most beautiful birds do not sing. 

That orange culture extends up the coast of California^ 
almost to Oregon. 

That there are thirty-two different species of maple in 
Japan. 

That Japanese cockerels have tails ten feet long. 

On the morning of the 17th at breakfast Capt. Berry re- 
marked that we had been oft the coast of Oregon all night, 
and at noon we should see land. Everybody began to strain 
his eyes for that Lone mountain that has so often cheered 
the sailor's heart with the first sight of land: first but a 
speck on the horizon, then broadens and deepens until Ave 
behold the grandest stretch of coast-line. The Australians 
said the mountains reminded them of their country — bleak 
to their very summits, enveloped in ever-changing hues. It 
was California. 



CHAPTER LVIII. 

From San Francisco to Yosemite — Then Home. 

IN an hour the pilot-boat appeared, coming to meet us. 
Numerous sail and craft were now visible. Presently 
the " Pekin " glides through the Golden Gate into the beau- 
tiful harbor. Now we behold the beauty of Alcatraz, Goat, 
and Angel islands. We see the doctor coming. The pesky 
custom-house officers are already here. But our patience is 
exhausted waiting six mortal hours for the medical staff. 



Sights in the Yosemite. 605 

The doctor arrives at last. He might be mistaken for the 
Czar of Russia. He brings up a lot of boxes, looking like 
dynamite. We are to be fumigated, Chinese and all, not- 
withstanding our officer reported a clean bill of health. A 
tug takes us to shore. At last, our native land ! Those 
odors were enough to have made a Chinaman blow his nose 
off. Omnibus for the Palace Hotel. In a few minutes, up 
stately streets, above which rose the most magnificent build- 
ings, we were alighting under a large glass court, full of 
flowers and statuary, in the center of the largest hotel in the 
world. It is the world-renowned Palace, nearly ten stories 
high, brick and marble; over eight hundred rooms, with 
miles of arcades, halls, galleries, warm and cold baths, 
grand saloons, electric bells, etc. 

San Francisco is a splendid city, only thirty-five years 
old, and boasts of three hundred thousand inhabitants, 
eleven hundred streets, alleys, etc., thirty thousand build- 
ings, one hundred and thirteen churches, forty-nine hotels, 
one hundred and sixty-eight newspapers, high schools, col- 
leges, clubs, reading-rooms, libraries, parks, and aquariums, 
with the best fire department on the continent. Her fine 
cable roads fill every stranger with astonishment. Cars fly- 
ing through the streets without horses or steam. The Cliff 
House, Woodward Gardens, Mint, and Stock Exchange, 
China Town, Seal Rocks, and Telegraph Hill, are among its 
noted attractions. A grand view of the ocean may be en- 
joyed from Telegraph Hill. These wonderful street-cars 
are propelled by powerful engines stationed at the terminus 
that work cable ropes running under the ground in the cen- 
ter of the track. The cars are moved by a grip that holds 
them to the cable. Telegraph Hill is as steep as Vesuvius. 
When one car goes up it pulls the other down. 

San Francisco is a very beautiful but hilly city. It boasts 
of its palaces, banks, and attractive suburbs. In Oakland, 



606 Around the World in 1SS4. 

across the bay, are many splendid homes and charming 
gardens. Mr. S. G. Murphy, formerly of Columbus, Ga., 
and cashier of the Pacific Bank in this city, is building a 
palatial residence in Oakland. He married the charming 
daughter of Col. George P. Swift, of our beautiful Georgia 
manufacturing metropolis. Hon. Charlie Swift, Col. Mur- 
phy's brother-in-law, is enjoying a large and lucrative law 
practice in San Francisco. I also met Mr. Jones, of Colum- 
bus. Judge Walter Levy and other prominent Georgians 
are well know T n in California. 

Sometimes an earthquake is felt here, which pours the 
people out on the streets at the dead hour of midnight. But 
except stiff winds the climate is delightful winter and sum- 
mer, the rainy season setting in about October. 

I wanted to pay my respects to Messrs. Williams, Dimond 
& Co., the general agents of the Pacific Mail Steam-ship Com- 
pany, who had shown me so much kindness. A few min- 
utes before my departure I had met Capt. Berry near the 
Pacific Bank for the last time. 

We were joined at the Palace Hotel by Messrs. J. J. 
Hardy and Alfred B. Black, two of our fellow-passengers 
on the " Pekin," from Adelaide, South Australia, for an ex- 
cursion down the Southern Pacific road to the big trees and 
Yosemite Valley. We had met Capt. T. D. McKay, gen- 
eral agent of the great Burlington route, and Col. P. G. 
Beam, who had very kindly arranged all the details, tick- 
ets, etc., for this most interesting and wonderful jaunt of 
rambling and sight-seeing among the snowy Sierras. We 
would advise all travelers to procure their tickets East and 
to the Yosemite from Messrs. McKay and Beam, who will 
spare no effort for their pleasure or accommodation. Cross- 
ing to Oakland in the ferry-boat at the foot of Market 
street, we were soon whirling away past lovely homes and 
gardens, leaving San Francisco, like a speck among its hills, 



Sights in the Yosemite. 607 

in the fading hours of evening. At ten o'clock Saturday 
night Ave stopped at Merced, one hundred and forty-five 
miles from San Francisco ou the Southern Pacific Railroad. 
Remaining over the Sabbath, in the early morning we en- 
joyed a grand view from our hotel window of the San 
Joaquin (San Wa-keen) Valley, a limitless wheat-field that 
stretched away twenty to thirty miles, as level as a table, 
to the foot-hills of the snow-crowned Sierra Nevadas. 
We attended the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church 
in the morning, Mr. Burgess pastor; heard a street 
preacher on the way; saw the eucalyptus or fever tree 
(Australian), and enjoyed a drive with Mr. Charlie Huff- 
man over his fields of eight thousand acres in golden wheat 
and barley. Mr. Huffman is a Louisianian, a gentleman of 
prominence and great wealth, who settled here before the 
Southern Pacific Railroad was built. He bought these 
lands for a song; now they are worth from thirty to fifty 
dollars per acre. We saw fields of wheat that would aver- 
age fifty bushels per acre; a hundred acres volunteer wheat 
estimated at twenty. Mr. Huffman has one hundred very 
fine mules from Kentucky and Missouri, with which he first 
turns the land in fallow, then drills in three pecks Australian 
seed-wheat per acre in October and November, as soon as the 
winter rains set in. Some of the lands are sandy, others 
alluvial, loamy soils — very rich. His combined reaper and 
thresher cost five thousand dollars, and was made at Stock- 
ton. He works thirty mules, fifteen on either side of a long 
lever, drawing the machine in front of them. A man sits on a 
platform between two large flange- wheels, guiding the ma- 
chine. The grain is cut. threshed, fanned, bagged, and thrown 
off by a man as the machine moves along. The wheat will 
stand in the field without injury until October. Mr. Huff- 
man feeds his mules on mixed wheat and barley — not a 
grain of corn, as I saw none growing in the San Joaquin 



608 Around the World in 188%. 

Valley. He showed us one flock of Merino sheep, five thou- 
sand head, which he grows for wool. 

Two or three hours travel by stage Monday morning 
carried us beyond this treeless plain into ridge lands, where 
we began to see the prairie squirrel that burrows in the 
ground. At many of their homes or holes I saw owls sit- 
ting. Our driver says they are companions, and sleep to- 
gether. The moment I chased one of these little gray, red- 
dish animals he made for his hole, invariably poking his 
head out to see if I was coming. Often near by the road 
they would fall back on their heels, facing us, as if on 
dress-parade. We saw no shrubs or trees until we had left 
the valley and begun to ascend the mountains. The road 
up their rugged sides was tortuous, winding and rising higher 
and higher. The view of the valley and the Merced Eiver 
far below us presented a picture of surpassing beauty. Lit- 
tle quail in pairs ran across the road. Thousands of sheep 
were grazing in the mountains. The grass on either side 
looked dead, but it remains nutritious still, there being no 
rain to destroy its good qualities. 

We passed Gen. Fremont's town— a dilapidated old vil- 
lage and post-office. Furnace after furnace was dismantled. 
The whole mining region through which we passed seemed 
hushed in deathless silence. 

At Mariposa I found Mr. Ben McMaddox, from Dalton, 
Ga. Ben had married a beautiful girl here and settled 
down. He is the editor and proprietor of the Mariposa 
Herald, a prosperous weekly. I saw fine nuggets of gold 
and silver ore for sale, and galena, in which silver is so often 
found. All night long we traveled over the lofty Sierras, 
covered with redwood, sugar-pine, and cedar, with snow 
visible on the highest peaks. This is a region of the deep- 
est solitude, scarcely a habitation to be found until we had 
reached Clark's the following morning. Clark's is twenty- 



Sights in the Yosemite. 



G09 




Z// 



YOSEMITE VALLEY. 



39 



610 



Around the World in 188 J^. 



six miles from Yosemite Valley, where the stage-road from 
Medera, on the Southern Pacific, comes in. Here were 
hundreds of tourists from all parts of the world, arriving' 
and departing every day. There is here a magnificent hotel, 
in which I found the people sitting around blazing fires, down 
in a deep valley, with the snow-covered summits of the 
mountains rising all around us. A heavy frost was visible 
on the 16th of July. 




SOUTH DOME — FIVE THOUSAND FEET. 

Near by, Mr. Hill, an artist of national repute, has a 
studio, where he paints from nature marvelous creations of 
Yosemite and other views. A picture of the valley was re- 
cently sold to Gov. Stanford for twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars, I was informed. Mr. Hill showed us several other very 
fine works of art. 




(CIO) 



YOSEMITE FALLS. 



Sights in the Yosemite. Gil 



We are now about ninety miles from the Southern 
Pacific Railroad and one hundred and fifty south-east of 
San Francisco. From Clark's we go over to the valley by 
a six-horse coach, driven by a colored man, on an excel- 
lent road that winds around and above cliffs and gorges, 
amidst the deep silence of the grandest foi-est I ever saw. 
Half-way we change horses, and now with new surprises at 
every turn we make, often at full speed above chasms yawn- 
ing thousands of feet below, we see granite peaks shooting 
up above us until we are lost in contemplation of nature's 
wonders. Our first view of the valley was from Sensation 
Point. To my mind it resembled a long, wide opening, 
or hole, blown out by dynamite or some great natural 
forces, leaving two perpendicular granite walls standing on 
either side of a little green valley, scarcely a mile wide, 
three thousand feet below us. The Merced River glistened 
like a silver ribbon meandering through it. By a circular 
road we descend at a rapid speed, going down, down, almost 
straight, about five miles before we reach the bottom. On 
our right, above a little bridge we cross, is the Po-ho-no — 
Bridal Veil Falls — that leaps over a rocky precipice nine 
hundred feet, swinging with the wind its sheet of silver spray 
amidst the grandeur of primeval forest. 

Before us rises in awful sublimity El Capitan, a cliff of 
solid granite without a seam in it, thirty-three hundred 
feet high. Here the valley grows so narrow that if this 
mighty monarch were to tumble over it would hurl its awful 
form across the deepened chasm. 

Opposite our hotel are the Yosemite Falls, that leap over 
the summit of the mountain below — a broad, white stream, 
falling twenty-seven hundred feet, breaking midway on dis- 
integrated bowlders of granite, then leaping again makes 
the valley, four hundred feet below. 

From our kitchen window we can catch trout in the crys- 



G12 



Around the World in 1884. 




EI, CAPITAN. 

tal depths of the little Merced. Besides Hutchin's Hotel, 
where we stop, there is Cook's and other houses near by. 
The photograph artist, curio-shops, etc., make up the village. 
Early the following morning we started on a pedestrian 
tour up the valley to Mirror Lake. We crossed many 
bridges over the Merced, meandering amid its green banks, 
leaving the gate-way of the valley behind us, the Cathe- 
dral Group and the Three Brothers rising in matchless 
grandeur into the heavens. We came upon the little lake 
by sudden surprises, nestling at the foot of the great Half 
Dome, away up in a corner of the valley. Zurich, Como, 
Killarney, and Lucerne were all forgotten. I stood hushed 
in a moment's expectancy, watching intently in the crys- 
tal depths of the lake for the first reflected rays of the 



Sights in tJie Yosemite. 613 

sun rising over the storm-embattled heights of the Half 
Dome. It must have been eight o'clock before the great 
orb came marching over its lofty brow with his train of 
purple, pink, crimson, emerald, violet, orange, dun, and gold, 
which were at once reflected in gorgeous frescoes thousand!? 
of feet below. The sun itself resembled a ball of fire. 
We saw every leaf, twig, and bending tree — even the gray, 
perpendicular granite walls that rose five thousand feet 
above it — mirrored in the transparent waters all at once. 
In the breathless awe and silence thus inspired we lingered 
until this beauty all had gone. Just across rises the North 
Dome, three thousand five hundred and sixty-eight feet 
high ; Clouds Rest, six thousand one hundred and fifty feet 
above the valley and ten thousand feet above the sea. 

Retracing our steps to the bridge over the river, we walk 
up a canon of the main Merced, filled with great blocks of 
granite fallen from dizzy heights, until, we climb along a 
precipice under and up over Vernal Falls. Here below, in 
the awful chasm of mists and clouds and beautiful rain- 
bows, we gaze above on lofty heights all covered with snow. 
We are four and a half miles from Hutchin's Hotel, and a 
mile and a half above is Nevada Fall, the grandest cat- 
aract in the world. Vernal Falls are four- hundred feet, 
but Nevada leaps over a mountain, falling six hundred feet 
below. 

Mrs. Snoiv keeps a hotel between the two falls, in a snowy 
region. Mr. Snow was coming across the mountains with a 
saddle-bag of provisions. It must all be transported in this 
way. His quaint, eccentric spouse gathers lichens and 
pretty ferns in leisure hours for scrap-books she sells to tour- 
ists. Mr. Black attempted to interview her, but she just 
referred him to a map. She did point with pride to the 
Cap of Liberty, another aspiring dome, three thousand one 
hundred feet above the valley, and directed our toiling steps 



614 Around the World in 1884. 

above Nevada around to Glacier Point. We climbed up 
solid mountains of granite, holding by the bushes that grew 
out of crevices ; crossed several snow-streams, at least ten 
thousand feet above the sea; flushed deer and pheasant 
through a wilderness of primeval nature, walking twenty- 
nine miles in one day — about three days' rambling for the 
average tourist. We enjoyed the grandest views of canons, 
Nevada and Vernal falls, the deepest gorges, the loftiest 
mountains, on the way. 

When we reached Glacier Point we were nearly exhausted. 
I was almost sick. I called on the proprietress for calomel. 
She was French (Alsace) ; could not speak English well. 
"O yes; just wait a moment; I will have it ready in a few 
minutes." Presently I shouted again. "0 yes, just hold; 
it will be ready toreckly! One minute!" she screamed. 
But it was the one-dollar-each dinner she was cooking. She 
had never heard of calomel in her life. So I ate about two 
dollars' worth of her eggs, ham, coffee, waffles, and pies; took 
a look down the valley over the iron railing at Glacier 
Point, close by, three thousand feet deep; a look at all the 
falls, crags, and peaks (as for gorges we had enough), and 
descended rapidly five miles on foot to Yosemite below. 
There were the Cathedral Spires, Cathedral Rock, Mount 
Star King, The Sentinel, and Sentinel Dome, that make up 
the tout ensemble of the valley. 

Returning to Clark's we visited the big trees, Mariposa 
Grove, five miles distant, where we beheld the Grizzly 
Giant, thirty-one feet in diameter and thirty-one yards in 
circumference. It is about eighty feet to the first limb. 
We drove through the Wawona in our four-horse coach, 
twenty-nine feet in diameter. The hole is 'cut through 
at the ground, about eight feet wide and ten feet high. 
These trees are over three hundred feet high, and belong to 
a species known as sequoia gigantea, that grow in the Sierras 




(Gli) 



NEVADA FALL. 



Sights in the Yosemile. 



615 




ONE OF THE BIG TREES. 



three to four thousand feet high. There are two groves 
near together, the upper containing just three hundred and 
sixty-five trees. Another group in Calaveras and still an- 
other in Fresno are the only trees of this species known in 
the world. The redwood is a coast-range tree, and fur- 
nishes the most timber for lumber. The sugar-pine is very 
large, and valuable for building material. Chutes are made 
from the lofty Sierras to the railroad, sixty miles long, into 
Which a stream of water is turned to float the product of 
the saw-mills down to the valley. 

Both the Mariposa and Yosemite belong to California, 
granted by act of Congress in 1864. I procured specimens 



016 Around the World in 188 4. 

of bark eighteen inches thick and cones sixteen inches long 
near the Log-cabin, in Mariposa Grove. 

Mrs. Langtry was just ahead of us. She had created 
great enthusiasm and most extravagant laudations among 
the stage-drivers, who had been honored in her visit to 
Yosemite. 

We arrived at Medera, south of Merced, by the other 
route to the valley, the one mostly traveled. We passed 
through Fresno, where Mr. Jack McDonald, formerly of 
my county, now resides. At Medera I met Judge Holmes, 
another Southerner, who informed me there were many 
Southern people in this part of the State. 

Fresno, Tulare, and Los Angeles are the counties that 
grow the raisin-grape, figs, almonds, oranges, and grapes 
for wine — of which thousands of acres are devoted to its 
culture. Irrigation costs three dollars per acre. The 
product of an acre for wine is one hundred dollars net, or 
more, in Fresno or Tulare county. Los Angeles is de- 
voted largely to orange, lemon, raisin, and fig culture. The 
city contains twenty-one thousand inhabitants, embowered 
in lovely orange-groves, pomegranates, guavas, citron, al- 
monds, and grapes. Such lovely drives, bewildering skies, 
roses and fruits of every kind, can scarcely be found on 
earth. Here are the famous groves of the Stonemans, 
Shorbs, and Wilson, that will remind you of an earthly 
paradise. Corn is largely grown in Los Angeles, and fif- 
teen tons of alfalfa per acre has been gathered, and pump- 
kins weighing four hundred pounds. 

Fifty-eight miles still farther south is Riverside, in Ber- 
nardino county — a dream-land of tropical fruits and flowers 
nestled at the base of snow-capped mountains. Here is an 
avenue ten miles long, adorned with palm, cypress, pepper, 
magnolia, and eucalyptus trees, from which peep out pretty 
homes of wealth and culture amidst orange-blooms and 



Sights in the Yosemite. 617 

vines. Among her prominent name's may be mentioned 
Col. Holt, of the Press and Horticulturist, Mr. James Bet- 
ner, H. J. Rudsill, B. F. Allen, W. H. Ball, E. G. Brown, 
W. H. Backus, D. H. Burnham, Jos. Boyd, A. S. White, 
Mrs. M. M. Emery, Messrs. Streeter, Evans, Derby, San- 
ders, Vandergrift, Hewitt, Johnson, Haight, Hollis, and 
others. Thirty varieties of oranges are grown. 

Returning to Lathrop, we went up the Sacramento Val- 
ley, by Stockton, to Sacramento. Here we visited the State- 
house, Mrs. Crocker's art-gallery, and left for our long 
journey over the Sierras, Nevada, Utah, Salt Lake City, 
across the Rocky Mountains, Wyoming by Cheyenne, down 
the Platte Valley by Fort Laramie to Omaha. Wc 
cross the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa; then 
through Burlington to Chicago, Louisville, Nashville, Chat- 
tanooga, Atlanta — home. The Central Pacific extends from 
Sacramento to Ogden, and Union Pacific from Ogden to 
Omaha, Nebraska. There were Monterey on the sea — 
charming spot; Santa Cruz Valley, Santa Monica, the 
Geysers, Prescadero, the great salmon fisheries up the Sac- 
ramento River; Lake Tahoe, deeper and more beautiful 
than Como, on the summit of the Sierras; Virginia City, 
Nevada, and other charming spots, we could not visit. For 
nights and days Ave traveled over treeless plains, alkaline 
deserts of sage-brush, where the buffalo was once seen. 
Now the antelope turns its pretty head, and prairie dogs 
in villages face our train. We pass Elko, Humboldt, Sher- 
man — the highest point of the road (eight thousand feet) 
— with lofty peaks mantled with snow, far in our rear. At 
Ogden, about half-way, we changed cars for a run to Salt 
Lake City, twenty-two miles down a pretty, fertile valley, 
in sight of the lake all the way. Salt Lake City has thir- 
ty thousand population, all Mormons except five thousand 
Gentiles. Stopped at the Walker House, visited the hot 



018 



Around the World in 188 4. 




THE TABERNACLE. 



springs, baths, tithe-grounds, Tabernacle, cooperation stores, 
Brigham Young's old (Lyon) house, President Taylor's res- 
idence, the Tribune office, Professor Clayton's Mineralogical 
Bureau, and State Geologist; returned to Ogden, resuming 
our overland journey home. Stopped at the Palmer House 
in Chicago; saw Armour & Co. cleaning hogs by machin- 
ery, and rode on the cable street-cars. 

Our voyage is drawing to a close. If I could now trans- 
fer it to canvas, what a gorgeous panorama it would make! 
You would behold Arabs, Turks, Hindoos, Singhalese, Ma- 
lays, Chinese, and Japanese, in their mosques, temples, pa- 
godas, joss houses, catamarans, massoolas, sampans, junks, 
proas, and other queer craft; you would see streets like 



Slgkfis in the Yosemite. 619 

cork-screws, lanes and alleys filled with millions of people 
carrying baskets on their heads, chests of tea swinging from 
each end of bamboo poles; dressed in pantaloons, baggy 
trousers, blue blouses, flowing robes, long gowns, turbans, 
broad brim or steeple-shaped hats; millions wearing a loin- 
cloth, with cues and shaved crowns; others nothing at all. 
You would see shaved heads, plucked eyebrows, painted 
faces, tattooed arms and legs, riding in sedans, palanquins, 
or on donkeys, camels, and elephants ; these and thousands 
of other things described in this volume. 

The best time to make this voyage would be by the west 
(San Francisco) in November, or east in January from 
New York. You would hit the seasons right then, at a 
cost of three thousand dollars, first-class. Six months' ab- 
sence is too short ; twelve months would be better. 

I came by the Chicago and Louisville Short-line, and 
spent one day in Nashville at the Maxwell House. This 
city is one of the most splendidly constructed and beautiful 
iu the South. It boasts of the finest State Capitol, the best 
publishing house (Southern Methodist), and the most mag- 
nificent university (Vanderbilt). We met Dr. R. A. Young, 
Secretary and Treasurer of the Foreign Mission Board, a 
man of great financial ability and towering intellect. The 
venerable Agent of the Southern Methodist Publishing 
House, Rev. J. B. McFerrin, beloved and esteemed through- 
out the South, was still at work in his department. Mr. 
L. D. Palmer, the present able manager of the House, is a 
Georgian and an old student at Oxford. I did not have the 
pleasure of seeing Dr. Kelley — who was away — the present 
Treasurer of the Mission Board and former missionary in 
China. Surely the Publishing House has fallen into safe 
hands. One of the most delightful acquaintances I made 
in Nashville was Maj. W. L. Danley, the popular and most 
efficient superintendent of the Nashville & St. Louis Rail- 



620 Around the World in 1884. 

road, Louisville & Nashville and Nashville & Chattanooga 
roads. The Major is a most delightful gentleman, and an 
enthusiastic worker in the Sunday-school cause. 

Lebanon, thirty miles north-east, is a fine old country 
town, noted for its colleges, elegant private residences, sa- 
lubrity of climate, and refined society. It was once the 
home of Govs. Wm, B. Campbell and R. L. Caruthers, and 
there our esteemed friends Mr. Sam Stratton, Dr. John D. 
Owen, Judge Williamson, and others, now reside. Judge 
Williamson married the widow of the renowned cavalry 
leader, Gen. John H. Morgan. Lebanon boasts of an ex 
cellent weekly newspaper (the Herald), and several baiiks ; 
among its other attractions. 

At Chattanooga we were highly entertained by Capt. 
Gaulding, superintendent of the observatory on top of 
Hamilton county's fine court-house, Avith a history of me- 
teorological observations made at this station. 

Mr. W. T. Rogers, the popular passenger agent, placed 
me under many obligations for appreciated courtesies. 

A few hours to Atlanta by Dalton, in one of the magnifi- 
cent palace cars of the Western & Atlantic (State) Georgia 
Railroad — Gov. Jos. E. Brown, President — ended my voy- 
age around the world. 

I had parted with my beloved companion, Sir John R. 
G. Sinclair, at the Palmer House in Chicago, and Messrs. 
Hardy and Black, who proceeded by Niagara Falls to New- 
York, en route to Europe. 

Leaving Atlanta by the magnificent new road, East Ten- 
nessee, Virginia & Georgia — Maj. Henry Fink, Manager — 
we soon arrived at Macon. Then " home, sweet home ; there 
is no place like home." Left on the 1st of February, re- 
turned on the 1st of August — absent just six months. 



ADDENDUM. 

"AWn well that ends well." 
DEDICATED TO THE P. G. IN G. 

Everybody remarks, " There she goes, the p. g. in G." 
Every town and village, every city and hamlet claims her 
birthplace — the prettiest girl in Georgia. Her symmet- 
rical form is nature's own model — full of grace, and poetry 
in every motion. Aurora paints her cheeks with her blushes 
in the morning, and heaven dwells in her lustrous eye. She 
never laughs or talks in church, nor even looks behind. She 
venerates old age ; has a class in the Sunday-school ; is good 
to the poor, and never speaks unkindly of any one. She is 
the light of home, and the joy of all around her. She is 
the most ubiquitous girl in Georgia. The young men go 
crazy over her melting charms, and old men raise their 
glasses to take a peep. She is modest and unassuming, and 
is so pretty she does not know herself how lovely she is. 

There is no such girl around the world,] 

So dear to me, as this p. g. in G. 
1 am now growing old, 
With threads of silver among the gold; 
Yet I never see or chance to meet 
This Georgia girl, that 's e'er so sweet, 
But what I feel I 'd like to he 
Just young enough again for the p. g. in G. 

(621) 

THE END. 



i, 



OYW 



